f* . 


•'/;."' 

* 


A  MANUAL 


FOR 


Home  Teachers 


State  Commission  of  Immigration  and  Housing 
of /California 


California 

egional 

acility 


CALIFORNIA  STATE  PRINTING  OFFICE 
SACRAMENTO 

1919 


44fkS« 


PERSONNEL  OF  THE  COMMISSION. 


Commissioners. 

SIMON   J.    LUBIN,   President Sacramento 

MOST  REV.  E.  J.  HANNA,  D.D.,  Vice  President San  Francisco 

MRS.  FRANK  A.  GIBSON Los  Angeles 

J.  H.  McBRIDE,  M.D Pasadena 

PAUL  SCHARRENBERG,   Secretary San  Francisco 

GEORGE  L.  BELL,  Attorney  and  Executive  Officer. 

Offices  of  the  Commission. 
MAIN   OFFICE  : 

Underwood  Building,  525  Market  Street,  San  Francisco 

BRANCH   OFFICES  : 

526  Union  League  Building,  Second  and  Hill  Streets,  Los  Angeles. 

Rowell  Building,  Fresno. 

419  Forum  Building,  Sacramento. 

Council  Chamber,  City  Hall,  Stockton. 


5659 


Publications  of  the  Commission  of  Immigration  and  Housing  of  California. 

1.  Americanization — The  California  Program. 

2.  Immigrant  Education  Leaflets,  Numbers  1,  2,  3,  and  4. 

3.  Tfie  Spirit  of  the  Nation  (Song  Book). 

4.  Patriotic  Exercises  (A  Program). 

5.  The  Home  Teacher  Manual. 

6.  A  Discussion  of  Methods  of  Teaching  English. 

7.  A  Primer  for  Foreign-speaking  Women.    Parts  I  and  II. 

8.  An  A-B-C  of  Housing. 

9.  A  Plan  for  a  Housing  Survey. 

10.  State  Housing  Manual. 

11.  Camp  Sanitation  and  Housing. 

12.  Suggestions  for  Speakers. 

13.  Heroes  of  Freedom. 

14.  Fresno's  Immigration  Problem. 

These  publications  may  be  had  free  on  application  to  the  Commission. 


CONTENTS. 


Page 

LETTER    OP   TRANSMITTAL 5 

CONDITIONS   CREATING   THE   NEED 7 

DIFFICULTIES 13 

QUALIFICATIONS  OF  TEACHERS 13 

AIMS     14 

METHODS    9 

SUGGESTIONS  TO  HOME  TEACHERS 12 

SUGGESTIONS  TO  BOARDS  OF  EDUCATION 15 

EQUIPMENT   __— 15 

HOW   TO   PROCURE   HOME   TEACHERS 17 

CO-OPERATIVE  AGENCIES 17 

RESULTS   TO   BE  EXPECTED 18 

PRACTICAL  EXPERIENCE  AND  TESTIMONY 19 

HOME   TEACHER   ACT__  47 


LETTER  OF  TRANSMITTAL. 


To  His  Excellency,  WILLIAM  D.  STEPHENS, 

Governor  of  California. 

SIR:  We  have  the  honor  to  submit  herewith  a  pamphlet  entitled 
"A  Manual  for  Home  Teachers." 

It  is  issued  to  provide  answers  to  the  frequent  questions  coming  to 
the  Commission  from  all  parts  of  California,  and  from  many  states  of 
the  Union. 

The  pamphlet  is  based  upon  the  practical  experiences  of  pioneer 
Home  Teachers,  and  furnishes  the  best  guide  now  available  to  those 
desiring  to  begin  the  work  of  a  Home  Teacher. 

It  has  been  compiled  and  prepared  by  Mrs.  H.  K.  W.  Bent,  of  the 
Commission's  Bureau  of  Education. 
Respectfully  yours, 

COMMISSION  OF  IMMIGRATION  AND  HOUSING 
OF  CALIFORNIA. 


TO  HOME  TEACHERS. 

After  watching  the  working  out  of  the  Home  Teacher  law  for  four 
years,  those  who  have  its  interests  most  closely  at  heart  have  found  that 
there  is  one  grave  error  into  which  the  Home  Teacher  is  very  likely 
to  fall. 

The  law  definitely  makes  the  Home  Teacher  a  part  of  the  school 
system  and,  moreover,  specifies  that  she  be  connected  with  certain 
schools.  Under  that  law  she  is  as  thoroughly  responsible  to  her  prin- 
cipal as  are  the  teachers  whose  work  lies  in  the  schoolroom. 

It  is  very  easy,  however,  to  take  another  attitude.  Although  the 
school  is  coming  into  its  own  as  the  social  center  of  its  district,  social 
and  educational  fields  are  still  generally  held  to  be  distinct.  And 
because  the  Home  Teacher  is  definitely  a  socializing  element,  she  often 
slips  away  from  the  school,  and  either  affiliates  herself  with  other  social 
agencies  or  tries  to  do  her  task  alone. 

Both  of  these  methods  have  invariably  proven  fatal  to  the  success  of 
the  work.  Only  when  a  Home  Teacher  is  the  definite  link  between  the 
school  and  the  home  can  she  hope  to  succeed,  and  it  is  as  an  envoy  of 
the  school  that  she  can  best  enter  the  home  with  no  risk  of  being  the 
intruder.  Working  apart  from  the  school  leads  to  working  at  cross 
purposes  with  it  and  leads,  besides,  to  conflict  and  overlapping  with 
other  agencies. 

To  be  sure,  those  agencies  must  know  her.  Every  organization 
which  is  bent  on  helping  those  who  are  in  need  of  help  must  feel  her 
co-operation.  But  that  co-operation  must  come  in  the  name  of  the 
institution  which  she  represents. 

The  future  of  the  nation  is  largely  in  the  hands  of  the  teachers.  To 
the  Home  Teacher  belongs,  in  ever  increasing  measure,  the  future  of 
many  of  the  homes.  And  as  the  welfare  of  the  children  can  not  be  con- 
sidered apart  from  the  welfare  of  the  homes,  so  the  Home  Teacher  can 
not  break  away  from  the  school  and  hope  to  fill  the  place  for  which  she 
has  been  chosen. 

So  we  come  to  the  definition  of  that  place.  ' '  The  teaching  of  English 
to  the  adult  foreign  born,"  in  the  words  of  Mrs.  Edith  Perry  Bremer, 
"is  20  per  cent  a  problem  of  the  educational,  and  80  per  cent  the 
problem  of  the  social  worker."  So,  likewise,  is  the  teaching  of  right 
living  to  both  foreign  born  and  native  born  mainly  a  social  problem. 
And  thus  the  Home  Teacher  becomes  the  social  worker  of  the  school 
and  as  long  as  she  holds  that  definition  clearly  in  mind,  there  are  no 
limits  to  the  field  of  her  endeavor. 


CONDITIONS  CREATING  THE  NEED. 

In  the  earlier  part  of  the  heavy  immigration  to  this  country,  we  made 
the  mistake  of  assuming  that  when  the  children  were  cared  for  in 
the  public  schools,  our  whole  duty  was  done;  that  the  older  genera- 
tion was  quite  hopeless.  We  did  not  see  the  gravity  of  having  a  con- 
siderable and  increasing  fraction  of  our  population  made  up  of  men 
who  lived  in  colonies  as  essentially  foreign  as  the  countries  from  which 
they  came,  knowing  only  such  English  as  was  forced  on  them  by  their 
labor;  of  women  with  no  knowledge  of  the  language  or  of  any  other 
feature  of  the  new  life,  timid  and  distrustful,  bewildered_by  losing 
their  old  surroundings,  and  dulled  by  failure  to  understand  the  new. 

Another  result  of  our  lack  of  comprehension  was  as  natural  as  it  was 
unlocked  for — the  children,  acquiring  English  and  the  customs  of  the 
country,  fancied  themselves  superior  to  their  parents,  and  began  to 
ridicule  them,  and  to  break  from  their  authority.  This  attacked  the 
solidarity  of  the  family,  which  among  immigrants  is  particularly  strong. 
Few  will  question  the  gravity  o*f  this  condition,  attested  by  the  rapidly 
rising  rate  of  delinquency — or  the  soundness  of  the  following  observa- 
tion by  one  exceptionally  familiar  with  the  situation:  ^'The  basis  of 
every  worth-while  civilization  the  world  has  known,  and  the  hope  of 
America,  is  to  be  found  in  the  family.  The  genuine  culture  of  any 
people' may  be  measured  by  its  estimate  of  the  family.  If  that  be  low, 
then  there  is  no  lasting  culture;  if  that  be  high,  then  there  is  the 
groundwork  for  permanence.  Whatever  tends  to  disrupt  the  family 
makes  for  anarchy — whatever  tends  to  preserve  it  makes  for  perma- 
nence. That  which  tends  to  break  down  respect  for  parents,  tends 
to  root  out  all  reverence. ' ' 

Seeing  these  children  of  the  second  generation  throwing  aside  respect 
not  only  for  parents,  but  for  law  and  for  the  rights  of  others,  public 
sentiment  became  aroused,  and  gradually  came  to  realize  that  they 
must  be  reached  through  the  mothers,  who  had  scarcely  been  touched 
by  the  night  schools,  which  were  beginning  to  reach  the  men.  'The 
foreign  women  were  shy,  unaccustomed  to  initiative  or  mental  effort, 
and  must — in  any  case — remain  with  their  .children  at  night.  For  a 
long  time  this  seemed  the  end  of  a  blind  alley,  but  those  with  political 
and  social  sense  pressed  on  to  find  an  outlet,  urged  by  the  consciousness 
that  a  community  can  not  rise  greatly  above  its  mothers,  and  also  that 
a  state  is  unsafe,  when  in  a  large  part  of  its  homes  there  is  no  knowledge 
of  its  language  or  the  ideas  for  which  it  stands.  In  states  like  Cali- 
fornia, w^here  women  have  the  suffrage,  there  was  another  danger. 
The  present  law  gives  the  wife  the  nationality  of  her  husband,  and 
when  the  man  was  naturalized,  the  woman,  however  ignorant,  could 
vote. 


8  A  MANUAL  FOR   HOME  TEACHERS. 

Light  began  to  come  with  the  thought  that  if  the  women  could  not 
come  to  find  knowledge,  then  knowledge  should  go  to  find  them.  Almost 
at  once  there  followed  the  recognition  of  the  fact  that  we  had  the  means 
ready  at  hand — the  public  school,  that  university  of  every  neighbor- 
hood, could  be  a  ready  way  of  approach — the  school,  which  was  the  one 
American  thing  which  these  bewildered  strangers  knew  and  trusted. 

Conscientious  teachers  began  to  add  to  their  day's  labor  hours  of 
visiting  in  the  homes  of  their  pupils,  seeking  to  establish  points  of 
contact.  This  could  not  continue,  in  justice  to  their  regular  work, 
but  the  idea  had  been  found.  There  must  be  a  woman,  definitely  a 
part  of  the  school  system,  with  its  prestige  and  backing,  Avhose  duty 
should  be,  not  to  teach  children  in  a  schoolroom  what  they  need  to 
know,  but  to  teach  mothers  in  homes,  and  in  schools,  what  they  need  to 
know.  This  conviction  created  the  California  law,  authorizing  the 
employment  of  a  "Home  Teacher"  for  any  school  having  500  units  of 
daily  attendance.  The  provisions  of  the  law  at  present  limit  its  appli- 
cation to  congested  neighborhoods,  so  that  the  foreign  home  is  chiefly 
the  field  of  the  Home  Teacher,  and  she  becomes  a  direct  Americanizing 
influence. 

The  interpretation  of  the  need  in  California  departs  from  that  con- 
ceived elsewhere.  There  have  been  so-called  Home  Teachers  in  a  dozen 
cities  of  several  Eastern  states,  for  a  number  of  years,  but  their  purpose 
is  to  do  follow-up  work  for  absent,  irregular,  subnormal  or  incorrigible 
children,  and  they  are  more  properly  visiting  teachers.  The  Home 
Teacher,  as  we  conceive  her  purpose,  seeks  not  primarily  the  special 
child — though  that  will  often  open  the  door  to  her,  and  afford  her  a 
quick  opportunity  for  friendly  help — but  the  home  as  such,  and  espe- 
cially the  mother  who  makes  it.  This  discrimination  as  to  aim  and 
purpose  can  not  be  too  much  emphasized,  or  too  consistently  maintained, 
for  the  care  of  abnormal  children,  important  as  it  is,  can  by  no  means 
take  the  place  of  the  endeavor  to  Americanize  the  families  of  the 
community. 

Into  the  midst  of  these  beginnings  and  experiments  dropped  the 
tremendous  testing  of  the  nation  by  war — the  one  test  which  we  had 
assumed  could  never  come.  Suddenly,  over  night,  as  it  seemed,  the 
nation  had  joined  the  social  workers,  and  become  conscious  of  the  aliens. 
' '  Would  their  loyalty  be  with  us,  or  overseas  ? ' '  Germany  thought  she 
knew.  We  were  one-third  alien,  and  she  was  confident  we  could  not 
overcome  such  a  handicap — that  our  strength  would  be  a  rope  of  sand. 
We  know  what  happened — how  aliens  and  American-born  alike  fought 
under  our  flag.  But  not  because  we  had  been  careful  to  teach  them  the 
principles  we  believed  were  worth  fighting  for.  We  had  been  indiffer- 
ent, we  had  left  them  to  struggle  against  almost  impossible  conditions, 


COMMISSION  OF  IMMIGRATION  AND  HOUSJ^G.  9 

and  their  loyalty  was  more  than  we  deserved.  But  the  ideals  of  liberty 
which  they  had  brought  with  them  still  burned  in  their  hearts,  and  they 
are  naturally  docile  and  law-abiding,  so  when  they  were  called  they 
went,  as  the  service  flags  in  the  humble  windows  touchingly  testify. 

To  the  uncomprehending  women  suddenly  left  alone  with  their  little 
ones,  we  owe  in  honor  an  added  and  peculiar  duty — to  prepare  them 
against  the  day  when  their  soldier  men  shall  come  back  to  them, 
marvelously  developed  by  their  experiences,  with  a  knowledge  of  better 
living,  of  clean  air  and  good  food,  of  regular  habits  and  recreation,  as 
well  as  some  glimpses,  at  least,  of  wide  world  thinking  and  ideas.  This 
army  of  ours,  the  most  wonderful  the  world  has  ever  seen,  has  done 
genuine  social  work  for  its  soldiers.  In  fairness  to  them,  we  also  must 
do  social  work  for  "the  girls  they  left  behind  them,-"  that  these 
men  who  fought  beside  our  own  sons  may  find  homes  worth  fighting  for 
and  worth  returning  to. 

The  country  is  awake  at  last — from  all  sides  comes  now  the  demand 
that  those  who  live  in  America  shall  understand  America — that  this  is 
"a  critical  issue  between  the  United  States  and  destiny."  We  can  not 
do  in  a  day  what  we  should  have  been  doing  for  many  years,  but  we 
see  now  our  task,  and  have  perceived  the  means  to  accomplish  it.  The 
family  must  be  considered  the  unit,  and  to  each  part  of  it  must  be  given 
the  opportunity  adapted  to  it,  until  each  is  fitted  to  make  a  place  in 
society  as  an  independent  individual. 


METHODS  OF  HOME  TEACHERS.* 

The  Teacher  will  first  seek  entrance  into  the  homes,  where  the  work 
can  better  be  done  in  the  native  tongue,  as  the  early  knowledge  of 
English  will  be  far  too  elementary  to  be  of  use  for  the  intimate  and 
personal  approach  needed  there.  Some  of  the  best  work,  especially  in 
establishing  a  friendly  connection,  is  in  the  individual  homes,  and  the 
visits  of  the  Teacher  furnish  an  incentive  for  improvement  in  their  care. 
Yet  much  can  be  taught  in  a  group  of  women  which  could  not  be  taught 
them  separately,  and  one  of  their  great  needs  is  to  break  out  of  their 
isolation  and  come  in  contact  with  others.  The  group  work,  therefore, 
as  fast  as  it  can  be  built  up,  is  of  great  value.  When  practicable  there 
should  be  at  first  a  separate  group  for  each  nationality,  and  the  instruc- 
tion should,  as  far  as  possible,  be  altogether  in  English.  A  prime  need 
of  the  women  is  to  learn  to  speak  English — the  reading  and  writing  can 
well  wait  until  later.  It  can  be  taught  directly,  and  even  better 
indirectly,  through  the  objects  and  processes  used  in  work,  which  should 
always  be  connected  with  their  daily  life. 


*For  detailed  methods,  see  page  25. 
2-44586 


10  A  MANUAL  FOB  HOME  TEACHERS. 

The  women  in  these  groups  can  be  given  the  opportunity  for  self- 
expression,  and  especially  social  self-expression,  the  lack  of  which  is  so 
deadening  and  so  dangerous. 

Here,  too,  can  be  instilled  the  elements  of  American  customs  and 
laws,  which  they  often  transgress  only  because  they  do  not  know  them, 
and  have  had  no  opportunity  to  know  them. 

The  Home  Teacher  needs  to  keep  in  mind  the  modern  educational 
recognition  of  the  essential  place  of  recreation  in  every  life,  and 
nowhere  can  it  be  more  important  than  in  the  lives  of  these  women, 
which  are  monotonous  and  uneventful  to  a  degree  more  complete  than 
those  more  favored  can  imagine.  Ways  should  be  sought  to  vary 
the  work  with  simple  pleasures  and  diversions.  These  are  of  especial 
value  when  linked,  like  the  other  work,  with  the  school.  It  is  whole- 
some for  the  children  to  see  that  their  mothers  are  included  in  such 
plans  and  privileges. 

It  is  an  indication  of  achievement  of  the  highest  sort  when  these 
people,  whose  vision  has  been  confined  to  their  own  four  walls,  can  be 
brought  out  of  the  attitude  of  receiving,  into  the  joy  of  giving.  Perhaps 
no  happier  women  could  have  been  found  during  the  war  than  certain 
groups  of  Italian  women  in  California,  very  poor  and  very  hardworking, 
who  were  sewing  for  the  Red  Cross.  The  best  methods  will  seek,  even 
as  a  distant  goal,  the  highest  kind  of  results. 

The  psychological  law  that  it  is  possible  to  proceed  to  the  unknown 
only  through  the  known  must  be  regarded.  "Even  if  the  old  were  all 
bad  and  the  new  all  good,"  we  must  still  engraft  the  new  upon  the 
original  stock,  rather  than  uproot  the  mental  product  of  generations. 


METHODS  OF  HOME  TEACHERS. 
A.  In  Homes. 

1.  Never  enter  a  home  without  invitation.     At  first  you  should  have  a 
definite  errand  from  the  school. 

2.  Establish  your  connection  with  the  school,  and  from  this  build  up 
a  friendly  relation. 

3.  Looking  after  attendance,  while  not  your  first  business,  is  impor- 
tant in  itself,  and  valuable  in  giving  you  access  to  the  mother. 

4.  Be  willing  to  advance  slowly. 

5.  Be  prepared  to  meet  sudden  trouble  until  response  can  be  had 
from  social  agencies. 

6.  Be  chary  of  gifts.     The  women  should  know  two  things — one  that 
you  will  not  let  them  suffer  in  a  temporary  emergency;  and  the  other 
that  it  is  quite  useless  to  attempt  to  take  advantage  of  you. 


COMMISSION  OF  IMMIGRATION  AND  HOUSING.  11 

7.  Be  ready  with  sympathy  and  help  in  any  kind  of  sorrow  or  trouble. 

8.  As  soon  as  your  place  is  secure,  begin  to  suggest  and  bring  about 
improvements  in  the  care  of  the  house  and  the  children.     When  you 
are  allowed  to  help  bathe  the  baby,  you  can  teach  many  things  by  that 
means.     The  work  requires  constant  ingenuity  and  tact,*  and  patient 
follow-up  work.     Use  a  minimum  of  criticism  and  a  maximum  of  praise. 

B.  In  Groups. 

1.  Advantages  of  group  teaching. 

a.  Conservation  of  time. 
&.  Multiplication  of  effort. 

c.  Encouragement  of  numbers. 

d.  Freedom  from  embarrassment. 

e.  Enthusiasm  of  concert  work. 

f.  Difficult  suggestions  can  be  made  without  offense. 

g.  Advantage  of  seeing  different  and  better  things  away  from 

home. 

2.  To  secure  a  group,  begin  by  inviting  a  few,  and  make  the  occasion 
particularly  attractive.     Increase  the  number  by  repeated  visits,  and 
by  inducing  those  who  come  to  invite  others. 

3.  Make  the  speaking  of  English  a  constant  aim.     Use  it  yourself, 
and  teach  it  in  connection  with  all  work.f 

4.  Begin    with    whatever    occupation    interests    most.     Almost    any 
woman  is  pleased  to  sew  for  the  baby. 

5.  Avail  yourself  of  the  services  of  any  special  teachers  in  the  school — 
for   sewing,    cooking,    handcraft,    music,    etc.     Also,    as   your   groups 
multiply,  of  volunteer  helpers  from  the  various  social  organizations, 
churches,  etc. 

6.  Use  every  available  means  to  make  the  meeting  place  attractive, 
in  simple  ways  which  can  be  copied  at  home. 

7.  Encourage  imitation  of  pleasant  and  wholesome  things.     In  some 
cases  marked  improvement  has  appeared  in  the  home  with  no  criticism 
whatever.     One  woman  gazed  around  the  room  in  wonder,  say:j>£  ovy 
and  over  again,  "This  is  so  clean!" 

8.  Observe  public  holidays,  with  trifling  souvenirs,  as  cards  or  nags 
or  flowers,  increasing  the  sense  of  doing  as  other  Americans  do. 

9.  Make  use  of  all  practicable  recreation — music,  parties,  entertain- 
ments, parks,  etc.,  remembering  how  limited  and  dull  are  the  lives  in 
these  homes,  and  that  the  need  for  diversion  is  as  natural  as  hunger  to 


•"What  a  lot  of  clothes  to  be  washed!  Perhaps  you  have  no  soap.  I  will  bring 
you  some."  "How  clean  your  kitchen  looks  today !  I  will  bring  you  some  flowers 
this  afternoon."  "Don't  you  want  to  make  your  house  nice  for  Christmas?  I  will 
come  tomorrow  and  see  it." 

fHelps  may  be  had  at  this  office. 


12  A  MANUAL  FOR  HOME  TEACHERS. 

every  normal  human  creature.  Since  we  have  found  how  largely  the 
health  and  morale  of  the  army  men  was  sustained  by  wholesome  and 
suitable  recreation,  we  shall  not  be  likely  to  ignore  its  essential  character 
for  all  kinds  of  people.  Especially  seek  to  make  for  the  women  a  place 
in  the  school  entertainments.  Though  at  first  diffident  and  uncompre- 
hending, they  will  come  to  enter  into  the  spirit,  and  not  only  find  much 
happiness,  but  receive  many  a  lesson  in  Americanism.  From  the 
schools,  with  their  flag  salutes  and  flag  drills,  charts  and  songs,  they 
will  constantly  and  unconsciously  imbibe  real  patriotism. 


SUGGESTIONS  TO  HOME  TEACHERS. 

1.  Constantly  emphasize  the  school,  the  stable  link  connecting  your 
neighborhood  with  the  larger  community.    At  every  place  ask  yourself, 
"Whom  in  this  house  can  I  connect  with  the  school  in  any  way,  even 
through  the  nursery  or  a  fiesta?" 

2.  Use  care  in  approach — take  advantage  of  errands,  especially  for 
the  school. 

3.  Make  friendliness  first — all  else  can  wait,  and  nothing  can  be 
done  without  it. 

4.  Never  take  visitors  with  you,  to  observe  either  your  people  or 
your  methods. 

5.  Remember  you  are  not  primarily  a  nurse  or  a  relief  agent — their 
work  is  to  restore,  yours  to  construct. 

6.  Become  familar  with  the  social  agencies,   that  you  may  know 
where  to  refer  their  especial  work  promptly.* 

7.  Use  your  visits  and  influence  to  induce  the  fathers  to  attend  night 
school. 

8.  Avoid— 

a.  Showing  red  tape — making  records,  etc. 
&.  Taking  sides  in  neighborhood  quarrels. 

c.  Assuming  too  much  responsibility. 

d.  Talking  religion  or  politics. 

9.  Watch   for   opportunities   to   introduce   American   customs — "in 
America  we  do  it  so. ' ' 

10.  Seek  always  something  to  praise. 

11.  Recognize  the  excellencies  in  the  old  life  from  which  your  people 
come. 

12.  While  you  will  supplement  the  work  of  other  social  agents — as  the 
Nurse  and  Attendance  Officer — let  everything  be  tributary  to  your 
main  purpose,  never  to  be  lost  sight  of,  to  broaden,  elevate  and  Ameri- 
canize the  viewpoint  and  life  of  the  homes  which  you  enter. 


*See  list  on  page  46. 


COMMISSION  OF  IMMIGRATION  AND  HOUSING.  13 

DIFFICULTIES. 

No  new  development  of  public  service,  particularly  in  the  educational 
field,  can  take  place  easily.  The  kindergarten  and  even  cooking  and 
sewing  schools  had  to  fight  for  their  places  which  now  seem  so  well 
established.  The  Home  Teacher  plan  is  no  exception. 

The  intrinsic  and  positive  difficulties  may  be  left  to  the  teacher  in 
the  field,  when  she  is  once  secured.  The  difficulties  in  the  way  of  estab- 
lishing the  department  are  chiefly  negative — the  lack  of  public  informa- 
tion, of  money,  and  of  qualified  teachers.  If  the  first  can  be  met,  the 
others  will  follow. 


QUALIFICATIONS  FOR  HOME  TEACHERS. 

The  work  of  a  Home  Teacher  is  highly  specialized.  It  is  a  new 
profession  and  requires  special  qualifications.  The  Home  Teacher  must 
comprehend  the  object  of  the  work,  and  the  reasons  which  called  it  into 
being.  She  must  understand  that  so  delicate  a  matter  as  assuming  to 
enter  homes  and  modify  them  will  require  constant  and  unfailing  tact, 
and  respect  for  the  rights  and  dignity  of  any  woman  in  her  own  home. 
She  will  need  to  recognize  that  in  the  nature  of  the  case  her  task  is 
difficult — that  it  is  because  it  is  difficult  that  she  is  needed — and  that 
therefore  a  part  of  her  equipment  must  be  patience,  optimism,  and  the 
ability  to  turn  to  good  account  all  the  varying  circumstances  she  will 
meet. 

It  is  useless  for  her  to  enter  upon  the  work  at  all  unless  she  really 
cares  for  the  people,  can  enter  into  their  joys  and  sorrows,  and  rejoice 
to  bring  them  friendship  and  inspiration. 

Qualifications.    A  Summary. 

1.  Teacher's  certificate. 

2.  Experience  in  teaching  and  in  social  work. 

3.  Good  health. 

4.  Ability  to  speak  the  language  of  the  largest  group  in  the  district. 

5.  Complete  loyalty  to  the  principal  of  the  school. 

6.  Tact  and  patience  for  a  delicate  task. 

7.  Ingenuity  in  adapting  all  circumstances  to  the  main  purpose. 

8.  An  incapacity  for  discouragement. 

9.  Comprehension  of  the  reasons  and  objects  of  the  work. 

10.  Finally,  above  all  and  through  all,  a  sympathetic  attitude  toward 
the  people,  which  involves  some  knowledge  of  the  countries  and  con- 
ditions from  Avhich  they  came,  and  what  "America"  has  meant  to  them. 


14  A  MANUAL  FOR  HOME  TEACHERS. 

AIMS  OF  THE  HOME  TEACHER. 

The  Home  Teacher,  like  other  workers,  can  not  have  her  aims  and 
purposes  too  clearly  outlined,  or  too  constantly  in  mind.  The  under- 
lying aims  are  of  the  broadest. 

The  emphasis  of  effort  must  be  shifted  from  the  child  to  the  parent, 
and  the  home  made  the  working  unit. 

There  must  be  a  distinct  effort  to  keep  the  mother  honored  by  the 
children.  A  help  to  this  end  is  the  explanation  and  interpretation, 
to  both,  of  the  Compulsory  School  Law,  which  often  sadly  perplexes 
the  parents,  and  encourages  the  children  to  feel  that  the  parents' 
authority  is  not  supreme.  Both  should  be  led  to  confidence  in  the  school 
as  the  source  of  friendliness  and  help.  Later,  when  they  have  absorbed 
some  ideas  of  democracy,  they  can  be  brought  to  understand  that  the 
school  is  theirs  because  it  belongs  to  all  and  is  supported  by  all. 

While  specific  matters  of  health,  etc.,  will  need  to  receive  attention, 
the  important  thing  is  gradually  to  raise  the  standards  of  the  home. 
It  must  always  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  women  are  following — just  as 
we  are — the  manner  of  life  they  have  always  seen  and  known.  They 
have  neither  knowledge  nor  example  to  suggest  anything  different,  and 
the  different  way  may  not  at  first  seem  better. 

Aims.    A  Summary. 

1.  To  make  the  home  the  unit  of  the  community,  with  special  emphasis 
on  the  mother. 

2.  To  link  up  home  and  school.     "I  am  the  school,  coming  to  this 
home." 

3.  To  reach— 

a.  Families  with  children  in  school. 

&.  Families  with  young  children. 

c.  Other  community  work  if  practicable. 

4.  To  improve  the  ideas  of  sanitation  and  personal  hygiene — suggest- 
ing, for  instance,  that  sausage  and  coffee  are  not  the  best  diet  for  a 
young  baby. 

5.  Especially  to  raise  the  standards  of  the  home.     The  children  accept 
as  part  of  the  course  of  nature  that  the  school  should  be  clean  and  the 
home  dirty. 

6.  To  keep  the  mother  honored  by  her  children. 

7.  To  enlarge  gradually  blind  acceptance  of  the  school  to  civic  under- 
standing of  it.     "We,  the  people  of  the  city,  do  this." 


COMMISSION  OF  IMMIGRATION  AND  HOUSING.  15 

SUGGESTIONS  TO  BOARDS  OF  EDUCATION. 

1.  The  public  requires  education  in  the  importance  of  this  work,  and 
in  a  sympathetic  understanding  of  the  difficulties  of  the  alien.     Children 
spend  a  few  hours  in  the  school,  and  many  in  the  home,  and  public 
interest  must  be  cultivated  to  include  the  larger  need. 

2.  Familiarity  with  the  situation  shows  that  the  Home  Teacher  sup- 
plements and  multiplies  the  effectiveness  of  the  school  in  many  ways. 
In  the  effort,  for  instance,  to  inculcate  personal  cleanliness,  a  child  is 
bathed  at  school,  but  if  he  goes  back  to  an  unclean  house,  with  vermin 
for  bedfellows,  he  must  return  to  the  school  to  be  served  again  and 
again.     When  in  a  schoolroom  of  twenty  pupils,  fifteen  must  have  their 
heads  cleaned,  it  is  manifestly  the  homes  that  need  attention. 

3.  Methods  for  the  new  work  of  Home  Teaching  must  be  worked  out 
on  the  field,  and  not  in  an  office. 

4.  Normal   schools,    upon    request   from    responsible    bodies,    would 
undoubtedly  begin  to  recognize  in  their  training  this  virtually  new 
profession. 

5.  Certain  equipment  and  supplies  are  required  by  the  Home  Teacher 
in  order  to  introduce  to  her  people  the  better  and  safer  civilization  which 
the  community  needs  they  should  acquire. 

6.  Experience  has  shown  that  in  certain  localities  a  Home  Teacher's 
school  serves  its  community  best  when  open  both  forenoon  and  afternoon, 
that  the  women  may  come  wrhen  their  family  cares  make  it  possible. 

7.  One  of  the  qualifications  of  a  school  principal  in  a  congested 
district  should  be  the  social  sense,  and  a  degree  of  social  knowledge, 
that  she  may  sympathetically  co-operate  with  the  Home  Teacher  who 
may  be  put  into  her  field. 

8.  Teachers  showing  the  peculiar  qualities  needed  for  home  work 
should  have  early  recognition,  and  be  encouraged  to  give  their  attention 
to  this  branch  of  their  profession,  for  the  Home  Teacher  must  usually 
be  evolved  on  the  field.     She  can  not  be  created  by  resolution,  nor  can 
she  at  present  be  imported. 


EQUIPMENT  FOR  THE  HOME  TEACHER. 
It  would  be  as  unreasonable  to  expect  a  Home  Teacher  to  do  good 
work  without  adequate  equipment  as  to  expect  it  of  any  other  teacher. 
In  either  case,  it  is  true,  the  person  and  the  method  are  more  important 
than  anything  else  can  be,  but  even  the  best  workman  does  better  work 
with  suitable  tools.  • 


16  A  MANUAL  FOR  HOME  TEACHERS. 

These  foreign  women  know  little  of  good  patterns  or  skillful  cutting, 
but  respond  to  the  charm  of  a  well-fitting  garment  which  they  have 
themselves  been  helped  to  make  from  material  at  the  school.  Sometimes 
their  homes  are  strangers  to  the  unifying  influence  of  a  family  meal, 
neatly  served  and  eaten  together.  But  from  an  orderly  table  at  the 
school,  with  a  white  cloth,  bright  flowers  and  wholesome  food,  all  of 
which  they  have  helped  to  prepare,  the  women  will  learn  easily  and 
happily  what  no  abstract  teaching  could  ever  give  them.  The  hot 
water  and  soap,  the  white  towels  and  shining  dishes  which  they  use  in 
the  school  kitchen  are  silent  teachers  of  home  hygiene  whose  force  and 
value  can  not  be  spared. 

While  it  is  well  to  begin  the  Home  Teacher's  work  even  at  a  dis- 
advantage, yet  it  is  wasteful  of  the  teacher's  strength  and  devotion  to 
deny  her  ample  equipment.  One  teacher  said :  ' '  It  isn  't  fair  to  expect 
me  to  do  this  difficult  work  with  bare  hands." 

Equipment.    A  Summary. 

1.  A  school  principal  thoroughly  in  sympathy  with  the  plan,  and 
ready  to  co-operate  in  every  way.     One  of  antagonistic  ideas  would 
make  work  practically  impossible. 

2.  Suitable  rooms  at  -the  schoolhouse,  or  near-by,  for  group  teaching — 
a  model  flat  or  cottage  if  possible.     They  should  be  furnished  for  sew- 
ing, and  for  cooking  and  serving  meals,  and  should  be  made  attractive, 
but  very  simple,  that  the  women  may  copy  at  home. 

3.  Laundry  facilities  provided  in  the  school  yard  will  make  it  possible 
to  teach  improved  methods,  which  for  economy  of  time,  strength  and 
fuel,  these  women  need  especially  to  know. 

4.  Some  provision  for  earing  for  the  babies  while  their  mothers  are 
in  classes.     If  there  is  no  school  nursery,  volunteer  help  may  be  pro- 
vided. 

5.  Material  from  some  source  to  be  used  in  sewing  and  cooking. 
Coming  through  the  school  it  does  not  pauperize.     The  Home  Teacher 
will  almost  certainly  be  able  to  enlist  the  interest  of  some  private  organ- 
ization for  this  purpose.     The  material  should  be  of  the  most  simple 
and  practical  kind — outing  flannel  for  the  baby  garments,  and  inexpen- 
sive goods  for  the  children's  dresses.     Quite  small  remnants  and  pieces 
can  be  utilized  by  a  resourceful  teacher  to  make  comfortable  little 
garments,  and  show  the  women  ways  of  thrift.     For  the  highly  prized 
quilts,  to  meet  the  constant  need  for  bedding,  there  is  required,  in 
addition  to  the  pieces  for  covering,  the  cotton  for  filling,  which  few  of 
the  women  can  buy,  and  which  the  teachers  should  not  be  left  to  supply 
personally,  as  they  have  too  often  done  in  the  past". 

6.  Charts  and  pictures  and  cards,  with  some  provision  for  making 
additional  ones. 


COMMISSION  OF  IMMIGRATION  AND  HOUSING.  17 

HOW  TO  PROCURE  HOME  TEACHERS. 

This  is  at  present  a  serious  question.  There  is  no  regular  training 
for  Home  Teachers  in  the  normal  schools,  and  therefore  there  are  no 
centres  from  which  they  may  be  drawn  as  needed.  When  the  day  of 
beginnings  is  past,  and  methods  are  standardized,  then  training  will  be 
given  and  teachers  can  be  secured  in  the  usual  way.  But  at  present 
each  community  must  create  its  own — like  other  creations,  they  must 
be  evolved.  Places  which  are  interested  in  having  Home  Teachers  for 
their  congested  districts  must  keenly  observe  their  regular  teachers, 
with  reference  to  their  natural  fitness  for  the  new  work.  Even  more 
than  for  the  usual  teaching,  they  must  be  born,  not  made.  In  general, 
look  for  .a  woman  who  has  the  social  instinct,  with  a  personal  approach 
which  attracts,  and  invites  confidence.  She  should  have  a  natural, 
honest  respect  for  the  personality  of  others,  independent  of  their  cir- 
cumstances, and  no  tendency  to  condescend  to  any  one.  She  must  have 
"a  heart  at  leisure  from  itself,"  that  genuinely  warms  to  human  joy 
and  sorrow,  with  an  irresistible  sympathetic  impulse  toward  friendly 
help,  which  is  in  no  danger  of  perfunctory  service. 

When  such  a  woman  is  found,  let  her  be  urged  to  turn  her  attention 
to  this  opening  work,  and  prepare  herself,  as  far  as  present  facilities 
permit,  to  enter  upon  it.  It  is  assumed  that  any  board  of  education 
will  be  more  than  ready  to  employ  her,  and  she  can  join  the  other 
pioneers  in  this  wide  new  field  of  Americanizing  the  homes  of  our 
citizens  of  tomorrow. 


.,  CO-OPERATING  AGENCIES. 

It  seems  certain  that  work  backed  by  the  Board  of  Education,  and 
understood  to  be  definitely  connected  with  the  schools,  has  a  peculiar 
and  permanent  value,  partly  because  of  its  authority,  stability  and 
unity,  and  especially,  because  it  partakes  in  no  degree  of  charity.  Yet 
there  are  agencies  which  have  long  been  doing  pioneer  work  in  the 
field  of  home  service,  proving  its  value,  as  almost  all  work  must  be 
proved  for  the  public,  by  private  initiative.  To  them  belongs  the 
honor  of  the  early  vision  which  saw  that  the  only  way  to  bring  these 
strangers  into  larger  and  better  living  was  to  show  them  such  living, 
incarnated  in  those  who  have  known  it.  Such  agencies  are  the  Settle- 
ments, the  Y.  W.  C.  A.,  The  Council  of  Jewish  Women,  the  D.  A.  R.,  the 
Mothers  Congress  and  Parent-Teachers  Association,  and  other  activities, 
both  private  and  municipal.  These  agencies  are  all  working  for  patri- 
otism, and  trying  to  bring  the  foreign  woman  into  a  real  American 

3-44586 


18  A  MANUAL  FOR  HOME  TEACHERS. 

atmosphere,  but  they  have  not  had  the  advantage  of  a  vital  link  with 
the  community  itself.  Such  a  link  the  Home  Teacher  affords.  A  con- 
nection with  the  schools  can  vitalize  and  stabilize  the  independent 
agencies,  while  they,  in  turn,  can  furnish  things  much  needed  by  the 
Home  Teacher,  such  as  volunteer  helpers  for  her  group  work — which 
just  in  proportion  to  her  success  she  requires.  Especially  they  help 
keep  her  view  fresh  and  unformal. 

From  both  points  of  view,  nothing  is  more  desirable  than  the  most 
complete  and  cordial  co-operation  between  the  Home  Teacher  and  all 
agencies  in  the  field. 


RESULTS  TO  BE  EXPECTED. 

The  results  of  home  work  are  not  swift  or  spectacular,  but  they  are 
in  wholesome  and  vital  directions,  and  they  are  results  which  can  not 
be  secured  in  any  other  way. 

1.  A  restored  balance  of  family  authority,  with  its  command  once 
more  in  the  hands  of  the  parents. 

2.  A  more  intelligent  response  to  the  demands  of  society. 

3.  Improved  morals  and  gentler  manners  in  our  citizens  of  tomorrow. 

4.  Better  standards  of  sanitation  and  health  in  foreign  neighborhoods, 
tending  to  conserve  the  safety  of  the  larger  community. 

5.  A  wider  horizon,  and  therefore  increased  happiness,  for  a  large 
body  of  our  people — those  who  have  come  to  us  hoping  for  the  best 
things. 

6.  An  increased  knowledge  of  what  "America"  means,  and  of  the 
duties  and  responsibilities  of  its  people. 

7.  If  the  teacher  be  wise  and  large  minded,  she  can  not  only  help 
the  alien  to  absorb  what  we  have  to  give,  but  can  bring  back  to  us  a  fund 
of  knowledge  concerning  him,  and  open  a  channel  for  what  lie  and  his 
civilization  have  to  offer  us. 


COMMISSION  OP  IMMIGRATION  AND  HOUSING.  19 


PRACTICAL  EXPERIENCE  AND  PERSONAL 
TESTIMONY. 


1.  FOREWORD. 

While  the  Home  Teacher  plan  is  in  its  early  stages,  and  its  methods 
are  not  yet  completely  standardized,  it  by  no  means  entirely  lacks 
practical  demonstration.  There  were  ten  Home  Teachers  last  year  in 
various  cities  of  California — San  Francisco,  Los  Angeles,  Sacramento, 
Ontario  and  South  Pasadena — and  others  have  begun  work  this  school 
year  in  Oakland,  in  Tulare  County,  and  in  Santa  Barbara,  until  there 
are  now  in  the  field  twenty  official^Home  Teachers.* 

While  perhaps  no  one  of  these  has  united  every  qualification  for  ideal 
work,  some  of  them  have  had  conspicuous  success.  Extracts  from  a  few 
of  their  reports,f  and  outlines  of  parts  of  their  work,  are  appended, 
for  the  suggestions  they  may  offer. 

Suggestive  matter  from  other  sources  is  added. 


*Much  practical  Home  Teacher  work  is  being  done  under  other  names,  both  by 
teachers  and  by  outside  social  workers.  Reports  of  work  not  previously  reported  will 
be  greatly  appreciated  by  this  office,  to  centralize  the  knowledge  of  the  progress  of 
this  part  of  the  Americanization  problem. 

tThe  Los  Angeles  articles  are  working  reports,  made  in  the  course  of  ordinary 
routine,  to  Miss  Ruby  Baughman,  Supervisor  of  Immigrant  Education  for  the  City  of 
Los  Angeles. 


20  A  MANUAL  FOR  HOME  TEACHERS. 

2.  A  PRACTICAL  PROGRAM  FOR  THE  HOME  TEACHER. 

By  MRS.  AMANDA  CHASE,  at  the  end  of  her  first  year's  work.      (Republished.) 

I  am  asked  to  set  forth  some  clear  and  definite  working  plans  based 
on  my  own  experiences,  suggesting  how  Home  Teachers  may  inaugurate 
their  activities  in  assigned  neighborhoods. 

To  begin  with,  if  you  are  a  newly-appointed  Home  Teacher,  I  would 
advise  you  to  spend  your  first  week  at  the  school  house.  The  reasons 
are  several. 

The  school  is  the  center  from  which  you  work.  Your  relations  with 
the  Principal  are  supremely  important,  for  you  are  practically  her 
outside  assistant,  her  neighborhood  deputy.  It  is  necessary  that  you 
and  she  understand  each  other  thoroughly.  It  is  highly  desirable  that 
you  agree  on  matters  of  neighborhood  policy.  At  the  last  analysis, 
however,  there  can  be  but  one  head  to  the  school  district,  and  that  is  the 
Principal.  Wherever  you  two  think  differently  and  you  can  not  con- 
vince her,  you  are  the  one  who  must  give  way.  She  will  be  very  busy 
that  first  week  of  school,  and  only  by  staying  close  can  you  really  make 
her  acquaintance. 

You  need  also  to  know  the  grade  teachers,  and  to  have  them  under- 
stand your  place  in  the  system.  Later  your  work  will  touch  theirs  in 
many  places. 

Also,  this  first  week  of  school  you  will  learn  more  of  the  neighborhood 
by  staying  at  the  schoolhouse  than  by  outside  calls.  You  can  visit  the 
schoolrooms,  and  be  presented  to  the  children  as  the  teacher  who  has 
come  to  be  a  friend  to  all  their  mothers.  You  will  meet  numbers  of 
mothers  in  the  principal's  office,  entering  their  children.  By  Friday 
afternoon  you  will  be  identified  with  the  school  in  the  minds  of  some 
portion  of  the  district,  and  that  is  what  you  want,  for  from  the  school 
the  people  expect  both  kindness  and  authority.  You  are  the  unknown, 
and  the  school  is  your  backing. 

The  second  week  you  can  begin  the  actual  visiting.  It  is  best  to  go 
first  on  definite  errands  from  the  school.  There  are  always  odds  and 
ends  of  attendance  to  be  looked  up,  even  though  truant  officers  are 
handling  truancy  and  obdurate  parents. 

Don't  force  your  way  in  the  least.  When  you  say  that  you  are  from 
the  school  you  will  usually  be  invited  in,  and  can  turn  the  errand  into  a 
friendly  visit.  But  in  case  you  are  not  invited  to  enter,  deliver  your 
message  at  the  door,  as  if  that  were  all  you  had  expected  to  do,  and  move 
on.  That  door  and  all  the  other  doors  will  open  to  you  in  good  time. 

Begin  now  to  organize  mothers'  classes  to  meet  afternoons  at  the 
schoolhouse.  This  group  work  is  absolutely  necessary  in  order  to  cover 
the  ground  efficiently,  and  also  because  of  the  outlook  and  inspiration 


COMMISSION  OP  IMMIGRATION  AND  HOUSING.  21 

for  the  mothers.  They  get  much  more  by  object  lessons — by  seeing  a 
model  flat  or  cottage — than  they  can  in  any  other  way. 

I  would  suggest  forming  classes  from  the  leading  nationalities,  each 
class  to  meet  two  afternoons  a  week.  One  afternoon  the  program  can  be 
an  English  lesson  followed  by  cooking,  cleaning  or  laundry.  The  other 
afternoon  the  program  might  comprise  English  followed  by  sewing, 
mending,  weaving,  or  similar  handcraft  instruction.  Sanitation,  includ- 
ing personal  hygiene,  and  patriotic  teaching  should  be  kept  in  mind. 
Sanitation  may  be  given  as  part  of  the  subject  matter  of  English  lessons, 
and  also  is  closely  bound  up  with  the  manual  work.  Patriotism  and 
simple  lessons  on  government  are  part  of  English  teaching.  Sanitation 
may  be  made  vivid  with  posters  such  as  are  used  in  welfare  conventions. 

The  teaching  of  songs  is  a  useful  and  much-enjoyed  part  of  this 
group  instruction. 

Any  school  needing  a  Home  Teacher  will  probably  have  suitable 
equipment  for  the  manual  teaching.  To  hold  these  mothers'  classes  in 
a  primary  grade  room  after  school,  with  a  disturbed  janitor  hovering 
about,  anxious  to  sweep,  is  something  to  be  endured  only  as  a  temporary 
expedient.  If  the  board  of  education  can  not  furnish  place  and  mate- 
rials, see  if  some  wide-awake  woman 's  club  or  other  organization  will  not 
equip  a  little  housekeeping  center  at  the  schoolhouse  or  close  by. 

In  connection  with  handcraft  teaching,  find  out  if  your  district  has 
not  some  latent  talents,  some  old-world  arts  already  mastered,  which  may 
be  turned  to  its  practical  commercial  benefit.  Often  the  skill  is  there — 
only  obscured  by  badly  chosen  materials  and  models. 

The  sessions  may  be  about  two  hours  long. 

The  babies  must  be  made  welcome,  as  the  mothers  usually  can  not 
attend  without  them.  I  have  sometimes  had  more  babies  present  than 
women.  If  the  school  has  a  day  nursery,  they  may  be  cared  for  during 
the  lesson,  if  not,  a  volunteer  helper  would  be  most  useful  for  this 
purpose. 

Visit  any  member  who  does  not  attend  for  two  successive  lessons,  to 
find  out  what  the  matter  is;  but  don't  make  a  practice  of  dropping 
around  on  lesson  day  to  remind  them.  It  isn't  dignified,  and  they 
would  come  to  depend  on  it  unduly.  And  withal,  the  attendance  is 
bound  to  be  irregular. 

I  have  had  in  my  class  record  book  this  year  the  names  of  about  half 
as  many  Mexican  women  as  there  are  Mexican  families  in  the  district, 
but  a  third  of  them  moved  into  other  districts.  Of  course,  when  condi- 
tions are  ideal,  such  movers  will  be  transferred  to  other  Home  Teachers, 
just  as  children  are  transferred  to  the  same  grade  in  another  school.  A 
third  of  those  remaining  are  out  at  present  on  account  of  very  young 
babies  or  other  causes,  but  still  consider  themselves  belonging  to  the 


22  A  MANUAL  FOB  HOME  TEACHERS. 

class.  Of  the  supposedly  active  members  there  are  always  a  number 
absent.  There  is  nothing  to  do  about  it  but  take  heart  of  grace  and 
keep  on  trying. 

Measure  your  success  in  group  attendance  by  the  ratio  between  your 
class  and  the  number  of  women  of  that  nationality  in  your  neighbor- 
hood. For  instance,  do  not  be  satisfied  to  say,  ' '  I  have  a  class  of  forty 
Mexican  women,"  if  there  are  160  Mexican  families  in  your  district. 
Say  rather,  "Thus  far  I  have  reached  only  a  fourth  of  my  potential 
members  for  this  class.  What  can  I  do  to  secure  the  attendance  of  the 
other  three-fourths?" 

At  the  same  time  that  you  are  talking  afternoon  classes  for  the 
mothers,  talk  evening  school  for  the  fathers.  If  you  drop  round  and 
visit  the  evening  school  yourself  sometimes,  it  will  help. 

When  any  considerable  part  of  the  district  responds  to  the  educa- 
tional advantages  offered  at  the  school,  it  will  be  impossible  for  you  to 
do  all  the  teaching  in  all  the  groups,  even  supposing  that  your  talents 
are  sufficiently  diverse.  Assistance  may  come  in  two  ways:  from  the 
regular  class  and  special  teachers,  or  from  volunteers  outside  the  school. 
The  teachers  will  be  more  dependable  in  attendance,  but  the  volunteers 
will  bring  a  buoyancy  and  freshness  of  enthusiasm  rarely  possible  to 
the  regulars  already  jaded  by  the  day's  work.  There  are  splendid 
women  in  every  community  actually  eager  for  social  service  oppor- 
tunities, and  it  is  surely  as  worthy  to  serve  the  state  as  to  work  for 
churches  and  private  philanthropies.  Very  likely  you  will  find  assist- 
ants of  both  sorts,  but  the  volunteers  particularly  must  be  chosen 
with  the  greatest  discretion,  and  you  must  keep  a  firm  hand  over 
their  activities.  They  must  not  rush  into  the  district  visiting,  though 
they  might  make  an  occasional  call  at  the  earnest  spontaneous  invitation 
of  the  pupil  visited. 

Every  forenoon  will  be  spent  in  the  homes.  After  all,  the  classes 
will  only  be  islands  in  the  sea  of  your  visiting.  You  must  visit  to  form 
the  classes  and  visit  to  hold  them.  You  must  visit  to  see  that  the 
knowledge  absorbed  at  school  is  actually  put  into  practice  at  the  home. 
You  must  visit  to  talk  over  many  matters  too  delicate  and  personal  to 
be  taken  up  on  class  afternoons. 

Each  class  should  have  a  social  function  about  once  a  month.  Have 
music,  games,  good  times  of  various  sorts.  Always  have  refreshments. 
Along  with  these  features  manage  each  time  to  have  the  class  show  off 
their  English  and  other  accomplishments. 

Make  yourself  loved  just  as  if  you  had  moved  into  a  new  town  where 
you  wished  to  be  a  social  success,  or  as  if  you  were  a  new  minister,  just 
come  to  the  parish.  Your  situation  is  somewhat  similar  to  both,  and  the 


COMMISSION  OP  IMMIGRATION  AND  HOUSING.  23 

affection  of  the  neighborhood  is  a  big  asset  for  your  success  in  Ameri- 
canizing it.  Foreigners,  just  like  ourselves,  are  easier  to  lead  than  to 
drive  into  new  ways.  Give  the  district  your  genuine,  earnest  friend- 
ship— just  the  kind  you  give  anybody. 

Get  acquainted  with  all  the  social  agencies  in  your  city  which  touch 
your  district,  and  do  this  as  soon  as  possible. 

Home  Teaching  is  a  game  of  co-operation  with  everything  else  in  the 
universe  that  is  trying  ta  help.  You  will  find  many  families  too  sub- 
merged by  sickness,  nonemployment  and  various  ills  for  any  education 
to  be  possible  until  these  conditions  are  ameliorated.  If  you  undertake 
the  amelioration  yourself,  you  will  lose  sight  of  your  own  work  in 
attempting  what  belongs  to  some  one  else.  You  must  make  the  connec- 
tion between  the  family  and  the  proper  social  agencies  and  move  along 
with  your  own  task. 

You  need  these  social  agencies  to  do  the  things  which  you  can  not, 
and  likewise  they  need  you  to  do  the  things  which  they  can  not.  They 
need  you  for  your  intimate,  first-hand,  family-by-family  knowledge  of 
your  district.  Your  territory  is  usually  a  mere  square  in  the  checker- 
board of  their  larger  area.  What  charity  .visitor  has  time  to  stop  and 
reconstruct  a  pauperized  family?  She  must  leave  that  to  you.  The 
Housing  Commission  may  move  people  into  better  houses,  but  what  is 
the  use  if  they  take  their  slum  housekeeping  along?  The  Commission 
will  depend  on  you  to  educate  these  folks  up  to  their  new  dwellings. 
And  so  on  through  the  list.  You  may  meet  some  slight  criticism  and 
opposition  at  first  from  the  representatives  of  these  other  agencies,  but 
only  until  they  understand  your  place  in  the  general  scheme.  Use  tact 
and  patience  in  showing  them  that  your  missions  do  not  overlap. 

You  will  have  a  bothersome  string  of  perplexities  over  the  question 
"to  give  or  not  to  give."  Gladly  do  I  share  with  you  such  philosophy 
as  I  have  achieved  on  the  subject.  To  begin  with,  all  substantial  aid 
had  best  come  through  the  standard  organized  agencies.  In  addition, 
our  school  keeps  a  little  storeroom  of  groceries  and  another  of  cloth- 
ing— both  contributed  by  schools  in  more  prosperous  sections  of  the  city. 
I  draw  on  these  for  first  aid  and  emergencies,  to  tide  over  until  work 
can  be  found  for  the  head  of  the  family,  or  until  the  red  tape  of  chari- 
table investigation  can  be  unwound.  After  connection  is  established, 
there  should  be  no  giving  from  the  school. 

That  leaves  only  what  we  may  call  the  "amenities."  These  include 
holiday  trifles,  delicacies  for  the  sick,  dolls  and  picture  books  for 
crippled  children,  flowers  for  funerals.  These  attentions  are  deeply 
appreciated,  and  do  not  pauperize  these  people  any  more  than  they 
pauperize  in  any  walk  of  life.  Yet  the  sum  total  of  them  in  a  school 
district  is  too  great  a  tax  on  a  teacher's  pocket.  But  the  world  is  full 


24  A  MANUAL  FOB  HOME  TEACHERS. 

of  loving  and  giving ;  you  will  easily  find  clubs  or  individuals  who  will 
be  glad  to  keep  you  in  small  funds  for  these  purposes.* 

From  9  a.m.  to  5  p.m.  has  proved  a  practical  working  day.  I  have 
not  found  anything  to  do  before  nine  or  any  place  to  stop  before  five. 
Of  course  the  trouble  is  to  stop  at  five,  but  the  Home  Teacher  must 
not  be  a  worn  and  jaded  person.  Freshness,  cheer,  vitality  are  essential 
attributes. 

You  will  not  only  visit  but  you  will  be  visited  in  your  headquarters 
at  the  schoolhouse.  You  will  always  have  a  lap  full  of  everybody's 
troubles,  and  yet  you  will  not  be  unduly  depressed  thereby,  because  you 
will  be  too  busy  fitting  remedies  to  woes. 

The  field  is  so  new  that  there  is  no  way  of  defining  its  limits  with 
exactness  as  yet.  In  a  general  way  I  would  advise  you  not  to  do  what 
other  people  or  agencies  stand  ready  to  undertake.  On  the  other  hand, 
you  will  have  to  fill  in  emergencies,  and  decide  later  whether  or  not  they 
will  eventually  belong  to  you  or  to  another.  For  my  own  part,  I  have 
conveyed  about  sixty  different  school  children  to  the  Parent-Teachers' 
Clinic,  each  one  from  once  to  a  dozen  times.  These  trips  were  preceded 
by  home  calls  to  get  permission  of  the  parents,  and  followed  by  other 
home  calls  to  convey  directions  for  hygiene  and  care.  I  am  not  at  all 
sure  that  this  duty  did  not  belong  to  the  school  nurse  rather  than  the 
Home  Teacher,  but  the  school  nurse  did  not  have  time  and  I  gladly 
accepted  the  opportunity  to  get  in  close  touch  with  sixty  homes. 

Unless  the  subjects  named  in  the  Home  Teacher  Law  are  standardized 
for  you,  it  will  be  necessary  for  you  to  plan  out  something  like  a  course 
of  study — that  is,  reduce  these  subjects  to  their  simplest  elements  and 
then  decide  upon  the  order  in  which  these  elements  shall  be  presented. 
Generally  speaking,  let  the  order  depend  on  what  the  immigrant  woman 
most  needs  to  know  for  her  immediate  use  and  protection.  For  instance, 
in  English,  this  will  mean  her  contact  with  the  world  outside  her  home — 
stores,  the  post  office,  street  cars,  etc.  In  sanitation  we  will  begin  with 
her  worst  violations  of  the  laws  of  health.  And  so  on  through  the  list — 
essentials  first. 

She  must,  however,  never  be  allowed  to  slide  away  from  English  into 
the  other  lessons  perhaps  more  attractive.  No  English — then  no  sew- 
ing, weaving  nor  cooking,  must  be  the  rule  in  the  group  work.  So  far 
as  possible  all  group  work,  even  the  manual  portions,  should  be  con- 
ducted in  English. 

No  two  districts  will  ever  offer  exactly  the  same  problems,  and  yet  in 
some  essentials  the  law  and  the  prophets  will  be  alike  for  all. 

*Mrs.  Chase's  first  year  and  a  half  of  work  was  voluntary,  and  during  this  time  she 
received  ten  dollars  every  month  from  the  Los  Angeles  Ebell  Club  to  supply  the 
sewing  materials  and  Incidentals  necessary  to  carrying  on  her  classes.  She  now 
receives  ten  dollars'  a  month  from  the  Women's  University  Club.  The  Los  Angeles 
City  Teachers'  Club  and  the  Federation  of  Jewish  Women  are  helping  other  home 
teachers. 


COMMISSION  OF  IMMIGRATION  AND  HOUSING.  25 

PLAN  OF  A  YEAR'S  WORK  FOR  A  HOME  TEACHER. 

By  MRS.  AMANDA  CHASE. 

The  activities  of  the  home  teacher  fall  into  these  divisions: 
I.  Group  teaching. 
II.  Home  visiting. 

III.  Local  school  attendance. 

IV.  Special  cases  and  social  service. 

I.  Course  of  Study  for  Group  Instruction. 
(a)  English. 

Group  divided  into  two  classes  according  to  intelligence  and 
advancement. 

Advanced  class  taught  with  textbook  or  typed  lessons.  I  am  most 
at  home  with  my  own  course  of  lessons  published  by  the  State  Immigra- 
tion Commission,  of  which  a  new  edition  is  in  press  and  can  be  had  free 
by  application  to  the  Commission. 

Beginners  taught  with  same  lessons  boiled  down  to  simplest  elements 
and  presented  by  means  of  charts. 

In  both  classes  attention  to  be  paid : 

(1)  That  the  oral  word  precedes  the  word  printed  or  written. 

(2)  That  the  reading  ability  does  not  outrun  speaking  ability. 

(3)  That  each  new  word  becomes  the  actual  possession  of  the  pupil. 

(4)  That  the  pupil  shapes  spoken  sentences  on  the  model  of  the 

sentences  in  the  lessons. 

(5)  That  much   drilling   and   constant   review   are   given   on   such 

minimum  essentials  as  salutations,  numbers,  money,  groceries, 
measures  and  the  like. 

(6)  That  lessons  are  connected  with  actual  objects  and  demonstration 

whenever  practical. 

(6)  Singing. 

Patriotic  songs,  with  preliminary  drill  on  words  and  meaning. 

Lullabies,  with  an*effort  to  have  them  sung  at  home  as  well  as  at 
school. 

Simple  songs  about  pupils'  own  occupations.  Mrs.  Ada  Patten  has 
done  some  original  verses  to  old  tunes  which  we  shall  use  next  year.* 

(c)  Patriotism. 

Taught  by  songs,  by  talks  in  the  pupils'  own  language,  and  by  simple 
patriotic  exercises  in  English. 

Also  by  having  pupils  understand  and  participate  in  the  national 
activities  to  the  greatest  extent  possible.  Red  Cross,  Thrift  Stamps 

*See  pages  38  and  39. 


26  A  MANUAL  FOR  HOME  TEACHERS. 

and  Liberty  Bonds  have  proved  powerful  factors  in  Americanizing  our 
foreigners. 

(d)  Sanitation. 

Taught  by  charts  and  posters,  by  talks  in  pupils'  own  language,  by 
simple  lessons  in  English.  . 

(e)  Cooking. 

The  following  course  has  been  compiled  with  regard  for  (1)  food  con- 
servation, (2)  scarcity  of  ovens  in  the  districts,  (3)  the  constantly 
changing  personnel  of  the  class.  It  is  to  be  repeated  with  variations 
as  many  times  as  the  school  year  permits. 

(1)  A  potato  lesson. 

(2)  A  green  vegetable  lesson. 

(3)  A  soup  lesson. 

(4)  A  meat  lesson. 

(5)  Rice  and  cocoa  lesson. 

(6)  A  salad  lesson. 

(7)  Top-of -stove  corn  bread  (or  other  bread  made  with  substitute 

flour). 

(8)  Baked  corn  bread  (or  other  bread  made  with  substitute  flour). 

(9)  Tamale  pie,  or  similar  dish. 

(10)  A  cooked  fruit  lesson. 

(11)  Pudding  (Top-of -stove). 

(12)  Oatmeal  cookies  or  gingerbread. 

(/)  Sewing. 

This  subject  should  always  be  taught  with  the  aid  of  models,  as  many 
of  the  pupils  have  no  mental  standard  of  a  properly  made  and  finished 
garment. 

(1)  Everybody  make  a  sewing  bag  for  use  at  school. 

(2)  Everybody  make  a  cook  apron  and  cap  for  use  at  school. 
After  this,  choice  to  be  according  to  individual  need  and  taste,  selected 

from  the  following  models : 

CHILDREN  'S  CLOTHING. 

Set  for  young  baby,  consisting  of  band,  diaper,  shirt,  petticoat  «nd 
slip. 

Set  for  one-year-old,  consisting  of  shirt,  drawers,  petticoat,  dress, 
short  kimono  and  nightgown. 

Set  for  small  girl,  consisting  of  waist,  drawers,  petticoat,  dress  and 
nightgown. 

Girl's  dress  and  bloomers  to  match. 

Girl's  wool  dress  made  from  old  materials. 


COMMISSION  OF  IMMIGRATION  AND  HOUSING. 


27 


Several  styles  of  girl 's  dresses. 

Small  girl's  apron. 

Girl's  nightgown. 

Boy's  waist,  rompers  and  coverall. 

WOMAN 'S  MODELS. 

Pretty  apron,  colored  wash  petticoat,  plain  corset  cover,  plain  night- 
gown, dressing  sacque,  apron  dress  and  knitting  bag. 

HOUSEHOLD   MODELS. 

Comforter,  curtain,  bureau  scarf. 

II.  Home  Visiting. 
a.  In  average  district  home  visits  to  be  made — 

For  general  acquaintance  and  friendliness,  inviting  to  join 
groups,  to  attend  night  school,  to  be  present  at  community  center 
events. 

For  correlating  the  group  lessons  with  home  practices. 

&.  In  a  limited  number  of  families  living  below  the  neighborhood 
standard,  detailed  instruction  to  be  given  in  the  home  itself  and  record 
made  of  each  visit  according  to  form  given  below.  Visits  to  be  frequent 
and  special  emphasis  laid  on  one  or  more  of  designated  points  at  each 
visit. 

Family  Record. 
Name  and  nationality _.__- 


Date  of  visit. 


Address 

Number  at 
rooms 

Family 
consists  of 

Economic 

status 

Floors  

Stove,  sink  and  table.    

Windows    

Ventilation  

Beds   

Matters  of  food.         ..          . 

Matters  of  clothing1  

Adults  study—  English  

Other  matters  -    -    - 

Recreation  

28  A  MANUAL  FOR  HOME  TEACHERS. 

III.  Local  School  Attendance. 

• 

(a)  "Working  upon  unnecessary  irregularity,  by  educating  parents  to 
importance  of  attendance,  and  also  the  meaning  and  authority  of  the 
compulsory  education  law. 

(&)  Working  upon  tardiness,  by  finding  its  cause  in  the  home  and 
having  it  corrected.  This  has  been  accomplished  in  a  number  of  chronic 
cases. 

(c)  Bringing  in  children  of  new  families  immediately  upon  their 
appearance  in  the  district. 

(d)  Training  parents  in  the  degree  of  cleanliness  required.    When 
necessary,  taking  a  child  home  and  showing  parents  how  to  get  him 
ready  for  school. 

IV.  Special  Cases  and  Social  Service. 

(a)  To  investigate  homes  of  school  children  as  to  their  fitness.  To 
see  what  can  be  done  to  improve  conditions,  or  in  extreme  cases  to  report 
such  families  to  child  protective  agencies. 

(&)  When  the  occasion  arises,  to  make  a  first-aid  connection  between 
a  family  and  the  various  agencies  for  relief  or  employment. 

RECORDS. 

1.  Class  book  of  group  attendance. 

2.  Class  book  of  home  instruction  in  special  families. 

3.  Brief  daily  memorandum  for  Principal. 


3.  "HOME  TEACHER  WORK  IN  SAN  FRANCISCO." 

By  COUNCIL  OF  JEWISH  WOMEN. 

(Excerpts  from  the  Report  of  Miss  REBECCA  JACOBS,  Chairman  Committee  of 

Americanization. ) 

Read  at  Section  Meeting  of  California  Teachers'  Association,  March  29,  1918. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  year  1915,  our  state  legislature  passed  a  bill, 
which  was  draughted  and  proposed  by  the  Commission  of  Immigration 
and  Housing,  empowering  boards  of  education  of  this  state  to  employ 
Home  Teachers  whose  duty  it  should  be  to  work  through  the  homes  of 
the  pupils.  The  board  of  education  of  the  city  and  county  of  San 
Francisco  was  not  prepared  to  install  such  a  teacher  in  its  schools,  but 
this  Council,  realizing  that  its  scope  of  activity  ought  to  be  enlarged,  and 
seeing  in  the  Home  Teacher  an  opportunity  for  doing  pioneer  work  in 
San  Francisco,  determined,  if  permitted,  to  assume  the  responsibility  of 
this  feature  of  social  work.  Permission  was  granted  the  Council  to 
employ  a  Home  Teacher,  and  in  January,  1916,  she  began  her  work  in 


COMMISSION  OP  IMMIGRATION  AND  HOUSING.  29 

the  John  Swett  Grammar  School,  that  school  having  been  selected, 
because  it  is  located  in  a  neighborhood  thickly  populated  by  foreigners. 

At  the  beginning,  the  teacher  concerned  herself  with  the  children 
only,  visiting  the  homes  to  make  inquiries  concerning  the  absentees. 
Repeated  visits  established  confidence  until,  by  degrees,  the  mothers 
learned  that  instead  of  being  one  whom  they  need  fear  or  look  upon 
with  suspicion,  the  Home  Teacher  went  to  them  as  a  true  American 
friend,  who  was  ever  ready  to  help  and  to  advise. 

Slowly,  but  surely,  the  teacher  became  the  confidant,  and  family 
experiences  were  confided  to  her.  As  soon  as  the  wide  open  door  greeted 
her  when  she  went  her  rounds,  she  began,  wherever  it  was  necessary, 
to  work  with  the  mother  in  the  home. 

She  explains  the  value  of  fresh  air  and  sunshine,  the  need  of  proper 
ventilation,  sanitation,  and  the  use  of  disinfectants.  She  teaches 
hygiene,  she  gives  simple  home  remedies  for  slight  illnesses,  and  urges 
calling  upon  the  clinics  in  the  neighborhood  for  more  serious  cases.  A 
bulletin,  giving  minute  directions  for  the  proper  care  of  young  children, 
issued  by  Mount  Zion  Hospital  in  1917,  at  the  time  of  the  infantile 
paralysis  epidemic,  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Home  Teacher  and 
did  much  toward  making  for  more  nearly  sanitary  conditions. 

The  teacher  shows  the  importance  of  being  punctual,  and  the  need  of 
a  clock  as  a  vital  part  of  the  machinery  of  the  household ;  she  explains 
the  State  Compulsory  Education  Law,  a  law  almost  unknown  to  the 
parents  when  she  began  her  work.  She  explains  the  Curfew  Law, 
impresses  upon  the  parents  the  importance  of  having  the  children  at 
home  at  night,  instead  of  allowing  them  to  roam  the  streets  or  visit 
picture  shows.  She  tells  about  food  values,  encourages  the  mothers  to 
use  more  cereals  and  green  vegetables  and  less  meat,  and  gives  simple 
recipes.  She  tries  to  impress  upon  the  mother  the  need  of  a  wholesome 
breakfast  of  cereals  and  milk  for  the  children,  instead  of  serving  them 
with  strong  coffee  and  doughnuts ;  and  tells  them  how  important  it  is  to 
have  the  mealtime  a  family  reunion.  The  children  are  taught  to  be 
helpful  in  the  home.  They  are  told  that  as  they  are  a  part  of  the  home, 
they  must  share  in  its  responsibilities. 

The  teacher  counsels  the  mother  so  to  order  her  household  and  her 
life  that  her  children  will  be  proud  of  her,  show  her  the  respect  which 
is  her  due  and  make  her  their  confidant  and  companion ;  she  helps  her 
to  give  her  children  a  home  in  which  they  will  be  interested  and  of 
which  they  will  be  proud — a  home  to  which  they  will  bring  their  com- 
panions, instead  of  going  from  it  to  seek  them;  she  is  trying  to  make 
the  mother  realize  that  only  the  right  kind  of  a  home  can  make  for  the 
right  kind  of  a  citizen.  The  Teacher  tells  the  mother  that  if  she  wishes 
to  keep  her  children,  she  must  become  a  part  of  the  community  in  which 


30  A  MANUAL  FOR  HOME  TEACHERS. 

she  lives,  that  she  must  learn  the  language  and  the  customs  of  her  new 
home,  that  she  must  learn  how  to  adjust  herself  to  her  new  surroundings, 
and  how  to  get  the  best  for  herself  and  her  family  out  of  all  that  is 
being  offered  her. 

To  help  the  mother  adjust  herself,  a  class  has  been  formed  for  the 
teaching  of  civics  and  English  speaking,  reading  and  writing.  This 
class  meets  four  afternoons  a  week,  from  two  to  four  o'clock.  To  make 
the  mothers  understand  that  all  good  things  ought  to  take  place  in  the 
home,  the  classes  are  held  in  the  home  of  one  of  the  members.  In  the 
beginning,  they  were  held  in  a  living  room  back  of  a  grocery  store.  At 
first,  all  of  the  members  were  doing  the  same  kind  of  work,  but  as  some 
advanced  more  rapidly  than  others,  two  divisions  were  formed:  Class 
"A"  consisting  of  the  more  advanced  pupils,  Class  "B"  composed  of 
the  more  backward  pupils  and  the  beginners.  Class  "A"  is  now  being 
taught  how  to  read  the  newspaper  and  the  use  of  the  dictionary.  Beside 
group  teaching,  individual  instruction  is  given  those  mothers  who  are 
anxious  to  learn  English,  but  who  can  not  attend  classes.  Patriotism  is 
being  fostered  by  celebrating  the  national  and  state  holidays.  Here, 
again,  the  home  is  the  place  of  the  celebration. 

Nothing  is  left  undone  which  can  and  will  implant  in  the  mind  of 
the  mother  the  idea  that  the  state,  the  home  and  the  school  must  be  so 
closely  linked  that  nothing  can  destroy  the  chain.  On  the  holidays  the 
mothers  celebrate  with  a  coffee  party,  which  is  followed  by  a  program. 
The  house  and  table  are  decorated  with  the  red,  white  and  blue  and  the 
flag  is  always  in  evidence.  Post  cards,  commemorative  of  the  day,  serve 
as  place  cards,  and  each  mother  is  given  a  small  silk  flag  for  a  souvenir. 
The  story  of  the  day  is  told  and  the  mothers  give  the  pledge  to  the  flag 
and  sing  America  and  The  Star  Spangled  Banner.  Each  mother  has 
been  given  a  card  upon  which  are  printed  the  words  of  the  latter  song. 
So  that  the  mothers  may  be  perfectly  natural,  their  friend,  the  teacher, 
is  the  hostess,  and  the  mothers  are  the  only  guests.  Because  of  this, 
they  talk  freely,  in  English,  ask  questions  about  the  day  and  about  our 
country;  thus  facts  in  history  and  geography  and  civics  are  subcon- 
sciously learned.  Until  this  year,  the  programs  were  arranged  and 
presented  by  the  Home  Teacher,  now  the  work  is  being  done  by  students 
of  the  San  Francisco  State  Normal  School. 

The  mothers  of  the  English  Class  demonstrated  their  patriotism  by 
subscribing  a  sum  of  money,  which  they  sent  to  the  "Children  of 
America's  Army  of  Relief,"  one  of  the  organizations  that  works  for 
the  starving  children  across  the  seas. 

The  Division  of  Immigrant  Education  directing  the  "America  First" 
Campaign,  sent  blanks  to  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Education 


COMMISSION  OP  IMMIGRATION  AND  HOUSING.  31 

and  Americanization  of  the  Council  of  Jewish  Women,  with  the  request 
that  each  recipient  of  these  blanks  be  asked  to  pledge  herself  to  have 
one  foreigner  enroll  as  a  member  of  the  Evening  School,  the  pledges  to 
be  signed  and  returned  to  Washington.  Some  of  these  blanks  were 
given  the  Home  Teacher,  with  the  request  that  she  try  to  interest  the 
mothers  of  the  English  Class  in  the  movement,  with  the  result  that  all 
of  the  mothers  signed  the  pledges,  which  were  sent  back  to  Washington, 
and  they  saw  to  it  that  those  for  whom  they  had  signed,  attended  night 
school.  Mothers  have  been  given  lessons  in  bandaging,  talks  on  First 
Aid  and  have  heard  a  splendid  illustrated  lecture  on  Sanitation,  Sun- 
shine, Ventilation,  and  Flies  and  their  Relations  to  Tuberculosis  and 
other  diseases. 

There  is  no  branch  of  social  service  work  which  can  do  more  to  give 
the  foreigners  the  ideas  of  the  better  American  living  than  does  the 
work  done  by  the  Home  Teacher,  and  if  she  takes,  as  does  our  Home 
Teacher,  to  those  among  whom  she  works,  good  will  and  sympathy,  good 
fellowship  and  friendship,  words  can  not  tell  the  incalculable  good  she 
can  bring  to  all  members  of  the  families  which  she  visits. 


4.  TEACHING  ENGLISH  IN  THE  MEXICAN  CAMP  AT 

SHERMAN. 

Report  of  MRS.  AMY  GARDNER. 

This  school  for  teaching  English  to  foreign  women  and  children  is 
located  in  the  yards  of  the  Pacific  Electric  Company  in  Sherman  near 
the  camp  furnished  by  the  company  for  the  employees.  There  was  no 
room  large  enough  for  a  meeting  place,  therefore  we  decided  to  occupy 
a  street  car,  which  the  Pacific  Electric  Company  placed  at  our  disposal 
upon  a  siding  close  to  the  Mexican  camp. 

In  the  beginning  we  visited  the  homes  to  invite  the  women  and 
children  to  come  to  school.  We  explained  to  them  our  object — to  teach 
English  and  sewing  and  (with  a  subconscious  feeling  of  egotism)  any- 
thing the  women  and  children  might  wish  to  learn.  The  class  is  com- 
posed of  twelve  women  and  twenty-eight  children  ranging  in  age  from 
four  to  fourteen.  There  are  sixteen  boys  and  twelve  girls.  We  have 
attempted  by  the  use  of  objects  to  teach  words  in  ordinary  use.  When 
we  know  that  the  word  is  understood,  we  ask  the  class  to  find  the  word 
in  their  books  or  on  the  chart.  They  sometimes  write  the  new  word  in 
their  blank  books. 

We  have  conversation  in  English  while  sewing,  teaching  the  names 
of  articles  in  use,  needle,  thread,  pattern,  etc.,  incorporating  such  words 
into  short  sentences.  Each  woman  has  made  an  apron  and  three  young 


32  A  MANUAL  FOR  HOME  TEACHERS. 

girls  have  completed  dresses  for  themselves.  We  have  given  special 
sewing  lessons  on  Friday  mornings. 

The  small  girls  and  boys  have  been  busy  with  mat  weaving,  paper 
folding,  etc.  For  the  older  boys,  who  attended  regularly  from  the 
start,  we  organized  a  sloyd  class.  The  lessons  are  given  Tuesdays, 
Thursdays  and  Fridays.  The  sloyd  class  is  making  flytraps  to  place 
near  each  garbage  can  in  the  camp.  They  are  also  very  proud  of  a  toy 
aeroplane  which  they  have  completed.  The  class  of  boys  and  one  woman 
have  half-soled  and  repaired  several  pairs  of  shoes.  Lessons  have 
begun  in  basket  making,  out  of  the  twigs  and  branches  cut  from  the 
eucalyptus  trees  near  by.  The  boys  are  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  simple 
drawing  and  tables  of  measure,  with  the  practical  use  of  tools. 

The  Mexican  camp,  located  in  the  rear  of  the  station,  would  not  be 
noticed  by  a  causal  passer-by.  The  people  in  the  camp  are  somewhat 
isolated,  living  their  own  life  in  their  own  way  and  knowing  little  of 
outsiders.  The  women  at  one  end  of  the  row  of  houses  have  scarcely  a 
speaking  acquaintance  with  those  at  the  other  side  of  the  camp,  but  they 
are  meeting  now  at  the  school  and  we  try  to  have  a  short  period  between 
lessons  during  which  they  can  get  better  acquainted  with  each  other. 

We  have  found  the  Pacific  Electric  officials  deeply  interested  in  the 
success  of  the  school,  and  we  are  indebted  to  Mr.  Bates  and  Mr.  Weller, 
camp  superintendents,  for  assistance  in  many  ways. 

We  hope  to  establish  a  more  friendly  feeling  in  the  community. 
After  several  years  study  of  the  Immigration  Problem,  as  the  writers 
like  to  term  it,  I  have  concluded  that  there  is  no  Immigration  Problem. 
One  nationality  differs  very  little  from  another  except  in  customs 
caused  by  environment.  If  the  community  holds  the  newcomer  at  arm 's 
length  and  treats  him  as  a  being  from  another  planet,  there  can  be  no 
growth  into  new  customs,  but  rather  a  withdrawal  into  his  own  language 
and  way  of  living.  There  are  many  people  in  Los  Angeles  who  have 
never  attempted  to  learn  the  English  language,  and  few  of  our  own 
people  care  to  know  why  it  is  so.  Miss  Baughman  said  in  one  of  the 
conferences,  "Do  unto  every  other  human  creature,  as  you  would  wish 
that  person  to  do  unto  you,  if  your  places  were  exchanged." 


5.  REPORT  OF  MRS.  RUTH  C.  FISH. 

Extracts  from  daily  reports. 

With  a  class  of  10  women  I  began  quilt  making.  Also  taught  them 
the  names  of  the  things  they  used,  as  needle,  thread,  etc.  "Where  is 
your  thimble?"  "Please  give  me  the  scissors." 


COMMISSION  OP  IMMIGRATION  AND  HOUSING.  33 

The  class  of  women  met  again  and  continued  the  quilt  making.  I 
reviewed  the  words  they  had  had,  and  taught  them  names  of  foods,  with 
such  words  as  pint,  quart,  pound,  etc. 

"We  had  a  group  of  30,  both  men  and  women,  last  evening.  They 
were  graded  into  classes,  and  taught  new  words,  with  concrete  objects, 
as — ' ' I  put  bread  on  the  plate. "  "I  put  coffee  in  the  cup. ' ' 

I  went  to  make  calls  in  the  homes.  Found  a  Mexican  and  a  Japanese 
boy  quarreling  in  the  street,  and  took  them  along  for  interpreters. 
We  did  good  work. 

Experience   in  Beginning  in   Difficult  Places. 

When  I  first  visited  the  neighborhood,  the  women  seemed  friendly, 
and  disposed  to  learn,  but  on  my  next  visit  said  their  men  were  opposed 
to  their  having  anything  to  do  with  us.  I  sat  and  talked  with  them  for 
an  hour,  explaining  how  it  was  what  we  American  women  would  like 
them  to  do,  if  we  went  into  their  country,  and  could  not  speak  their 
language.  They  finally  brought  out  some  material  and  asked  me  if  I 
could  show  them  how  to  cut  out  a  dress.  This  demonstration  established 
a  good  feeling,  and  in  course  of  time  I  found  myself  welcome  in  every 
home. 

In  the  beginning  they  said  they  did  not  care  to  learn  English,  but 
during  our  sewing  lessons  I  wrould  ask  them  to  tell  me  the  words  in 
Spanish,  and  in  turn  I  would  tell  them  the  words  in  English.  Finally, 
they  would  ask  for  the  English  words.  Two  weeks  before  the  close  of 
the  session  I  gathered  together  fifteen  women  for  a  real  English  lesson, 
and  before  I  left  they  were  asking  for  books. 

Among  the  women  of  this  camp  there  was  a  protest  against  the  study 
of  English,  and  the  majority  of  the  houses  and  children  were  uncared 
for  and  filthy.  Noting  the  aversion  to  English,  work  was  begun  by 
teaching  sewing.  In  the  course  of  a  few  weeks  the  confidence  of  most 
of  them  was  gained,  and  I  was  able  to  begin  to  make  suggestions  in  their 
homes  with  regard  to  cleanliness,  the  bathing  of  their  babies,  etc.  I 
avoided  criticism,  but  wherever  praise  could  be  given  I  did  not  spare  it, 
which  gave  them  a  desire  to  meet  me  with  clean  faces,  hands  and  dresses, 
and  in  time  the  women  would  ask  me  into  their  houses,  to  see  how  clean 
they  had  made  them. 


6.  ALBION  SCHOOL,  LOS  ANGELES. 

Home  Teacher  work  was  inaugurated  by  the  D.  A.  R.  in  the  school  at 
Avenue  19,  which  is  a  neighborhood  school,  with  a  very  social-minded 
Principal.  The  Home  Teacher  did  visiting  in  the  homes,  making  a  card 
catalogue  of  the  families  and  their  histories,  and  secured  for  group 


34  A  MANUAL  FOR  HOME  TEACHERS. 

work  45  women  of  various  nationalities,  Italians  predominating.  Two 
of  the  regular  teachers  in  the  school  volunteered  to  teach  them.  After 
English  drill  in  two  classes,  they  joined  in  one  for  singing.  They 
then  adjourned  to  another  room,  where  they  were  trained  in  sewing  by 
representatives  of  the  D.  A.  R.,  who  brought  material,  chiefly  clothing 
to  be  made  over.  After  one  year  this  work  was  taken  over  by  the  Board 
of  Education,  but  members  of  the  D.  A.  R.  continue  to  take  charge  of 
the  sewing.  The  success  of  this  school  is  largely  due  to  the  promptness, 
business-like  regularity  and  reliability  of  these  ladies,  who  have  con- 
tinued to  make  this  interest  first  in  their  plans,  and  have  faithfully 
kept  the  days  promised  to  the  school  free  from  other  engagements. 

The  report  of  the  Teacher,  Mrs.  Ringnalda,  follows.  She  has  now  a 
class  of  fifty  Sicilian  women. 

Mrs.  Ringnalda's  Report — First  Experiences  of  a  Home  Teacher. 

The  work  was  new,  the  field  was  new,  the  teacher  was  new.  I  found 
myself  at  first  groping  and  stumbling.  There  were  two  points  of  con- 
tact— the  Principal  and  the  people.  The  Principal  was  human  and 
practical,  the  people  immensely  human,  and  not  a  bit  different  from 
others  of  the  species;  and  their  problems  were  not  a  bit  bigger,  not  a 
bit  smaller,  than  those  of  other  folk.  The  problems  in  their  case  were 
made  up  largely  of  how  to  get  enough  to  eat,  and  how  to  keep  the  land- 
lord pacified.  The  rents  are  often  months  in  arrears,  and  a  trifle  each 
week  keeps  a  leaky  roof  over  an  uncomfortable  collection  of  human 
beings. 

In  the  majority  of  cases,  a  little  encouragement  in  the  shape  of  "a 
job  for  father,"  and  a  small  grocery  order  to  tide  over,  did  wonders. 

At  first  there  was  a  great  lack  of  cordiality  on  the  part  of  the  women 
of  the  district.  Often  my  knock  was  not  answered.  Among  the  first 
welcomes  I  received  was  a  visit  to  the  back  yard,  where  three  women 
were  engaged  in  washing.  I  did  not  try  the  front  door  this  time,  but 
boldly  marched  to  the  back,  and  settling  myself  on  an  upturned  wine 
barrel,  I  proceeded  to  get  acquainted  under  difficulties.  My  astonished 
hostesses  spoke  no  English,  and  I  knew  no  Italian.  My  attempts  at 
conversation  were  a  dismal  failure,  but  I  succeeded  in  rousing  their 
curiosity  to  the  extent  of  calling  an  interpreter,' who  bluntly  inquired — 
"What  you  want?"  I  told  her  I  came  from  the  Principal.  "Was  I  a 
doctor?  Was  I  a  nurse?"  I  denied  both  charges,  and  told  her  I  came 
to  make  friends  with  the  mothers  of  the  school  children.  More  neigh- 
bors came,  and  a  council  of  war  was  held.  I  felt  myself  under  fire,  but 
stuck  to  my  wine  barrel  and  played  peek-a-boo  with  the  baby,  until  I 
took  my  leave,  after  inviting  myself  to  call  again.  My  hostesses,  now 


COMMISSION  OP  IMMIGRATION  AND  HOUSING.  35 

numbering  eight,  seemed,  to  my  chagrin,  relieved  to  see  me  go,  but  I 
was  sure  they  thought  me  a  harmless  creature,  who  might  even  prove  to 
be  a  friend.  News  travels  fast  in  a  congested  district,  and  it  was  not 
many  days  before  I  was  firmly  established  as  a  Home  Teacher. 

I  found  that  a  word  of  encouragement  here  and  a  little  praise  there 
helped  things  along  very  much.  I  recall  one  shack,  of  two  rooms,  that 
housed  three  Mexican  families.  A  small,  rusty  parlor  stove  did  duty 
as  a  kitchen  range.  One  dirty  bed  stood  in  a  corner,  heaps  of  soiled 
clothes  were  scattered  about,  and  there  was  a  roll  of  bedding  in  the 
kitchen.  Tables,  chairs  and  dishes  were  conspicuous  by  their  absence. 
I  reported  the  case  to  my  Principal,  and  a  bed,  complete  even  to  pillows, 
was  soon  forthcoming.  By  strategy  I  succeeded  in  getting  the  floor 
scrubbed,  the  new  bed  in  position,  and  the  old  one  aired.  On  my  next 
visit,  I  found  the  owners  of  the  new  bed  fondling  it  as  if  it  were  a  living 
thing.  The  home-making  instinct  is  there — it  only  needs  a  chance  to 
develop.  These  people,  like  many  of  their  kind,  have  been  tied  hard  and 
fast  by  their  poverty.  There  is  a  chance  for  the  Home  Teacher  to  do 
work  that  counts. 

A  Mothers'  Class,  which  had  been  organized  by  the  D.  A.  R.,  met  three 
afternoons  in  the  week,  where  English  was  taught  for  an  hour  by 
teachers  from  the  school,  whose  work  was  a  labor  of  love.  The  second 
hour  of  the  meeting  was  devoted  to  sewing.  Garments  were  made  up 
and  sold  to  the  women  at  about  cost.  Those  who  could  paid  cash,  and 
the  others  earned  the  garment  by  sewing  for  the  school,  an  exact  account 
being  kept.  Cast-off  clothing  played  an  important  part  in  these  busi- 
ness transactions. 

Occasionally  a  rummage  sale  changed  the  order  of  things.  Any  one 
Avho  has  attended  bargain  sales  at  the  Broadway  stores  knows  how  much 
vigor  comes  to  the  surface  in  the  seekers  for  bargains.  The  women  of 
Avenue  19  are  very  much  like  those  on  Broadway,  and  two  people  often 
become  attached  to  one  garment  with  such  firmness  that  the  garment 
suffers. 

These  dear  little  mothers,  whose  chance  in  the  big  struggle  for  a 
living  in  a  new  and  strange  country  is  such  an  uphill  climb,  respond 
very  quickly  to  the  touch  that  is  human  and  kind,  and  come  to  look 
upon  their  Home  Teacher  as  a  friend  and  comrade,  in  whom  they  may 
freely  confide. 

During  the  earlier  part  of  the  year  I  found  dissension  among  families 
and  close  neighbors.  These  conditions  seem  to  have  disappeared,  owing 
to  the  regular  and  pleasant  class  meetings. 

This  is  perhaps  the  most  encouraging  result  of  my  work. 


36  A  MANUAL  FOB  HOME  TEACHERS. 

7.  OUTLINE  OF  THE  POLICY  OF  A  HOME  TEACHER. 

By  JOSEPHINE  RINGNALDA. 
(Reprinted  from  Los  Angeles  City  Schools  Report,  1917.) 

1.  Visit  the  homes  in  a  friendly  way,  to  gain  the  confidence  and 
friendship  of  the  men  as  well  as  of  the  women  of  the  district. 

2.  Report  to  the  principal  all  important  information. 

3.  Report  cases  of  sickness  and  want  to  the  proper  sources  of  relief. 

4.  Visit  the  sick  at  their  homes  or  at  the  hospitals,  as  the  case  may  be. 

5.  Visit  employment  bureaus,  industrial  plants,  and  places  where 
both  skilled  and  unskilled  labor  is  needed;  and  make  efforts  to  bring 
about  co-operation  between  employers  and  night  schools. 

6.  Get  market  reports,  watch  for  bargains  in  cloth,  clothing  and  shoes. 
Show  the  women  when  and  where  to  make  their  purchases. 

7.  Hold  classes  in  English,  sewing,  cooking,  mending,  shoe  repairing, 
etc. 

8.  Have  excursions,  picnics,  parties,  stereoptican  views,  with  simple 
talks  explaining  them,  and  by  these  means  make  the  school  the  com- 
munity center  of  the  district. 

9.  Keep  a  record  of  each  family  visited,  in  which  shall  appear  dates 
of  visits,  number  in  family,  condition  of  family,  condition  of  home, 
source  of  income,  etc. 

10.  Visit  officers  of  the  societies  for  Home  Finding  and  Prevention  of 
Cruelty  to  Children. 

11.  Encourage  home  gardens,  and  the  preserving  of  fruits  and  vege- 
tables. 

12.  Collect  cast-off  clothing  and  discarded  furniture,  and  sell  at  a 
reasonable  figure  to  the  people  of  district,  either  for  cash  or  for  labor. 


8.  REPORT  OF  MISS  JEANNETTA  WROTTENBERG. 

My  work  is  with  Jewish  women — chiefly  Russian  Jews,  with  a 
sprinkling  of  Polish  and  Hungarian.  I  divide  my  time  and  energy 
among  the  neighborhoods  of  three  schools,  and  can  not,  of  course,  serve 
any  of  them  adequately.  In  one  I  have  a  class  of  fifteen  women,  in 
another  a  class  of  fifty,  and  in  the  third  a  class  of  sixty.  Although 
these  numbers  seem  large,  they  are  small  in  proportion  to  the  families 
in  the  neighborhood,  and  I  am  more  than  glad  that  the  Home  Teacher 
work  is  to  be  helped  by  a  Jewish  organization,  so  that  the  number  of 
women  reached  is  likely  to  be  doubled.  The  opportunity  is  limited  only 
by  the  attention  which  can  be  given. 

These  Jewish  women  are  ambitious  to  learn,  and  have  an  exceptional 
readiness  to  respond  to  efforts  looking  toward  Americanization,  for 


COMMISSION  OF  IMMIGRATION  AND  HOUSING.  37 

which  they  have  a  natural  enthusiasm.  Besides  Yiddish,  they  speak  a 
little  English,  which  makes  it  easier  to  approach  them.  They  do  not 
require  the  ordinary  instruction  in  cooking  and  sewing,  as  they  are 
usually  adept  in  these,  so  my  attention  is  given  chiefly  to  hygiene, 
cleanliness  and  ethics,  in  addition  to  the  necessary  English  drill.  For 
this  I  compile  sentences  on  subjects  which  fit  their  needs,  which  they 
read,  speak,  copy  and  take  from  dictation,  absorbing  with  the  English 
still  more  important  lessons  in  sanitation,  civics  and  patriotism. 

I  find  one  of  my  chief  aims  must  be  to  seek  to  restore  the  natural 
balance  in  the  homes,  of  which  the  parents  should  be  the  head.  It  is 
the  tragedy  of  the  immigrants  that  in  adjusting  themselves  to  new  con- 
ditions, the  children  are  reached  and  developed  first,  with  resulting 
disintegration  in  the  home,  and  loss  of  dignity  for  the  parents — a 
thing  greatly  cherished  by  the  foreigner.  The  children  may  be  led  to 
honor  their  parents  through  appreciation  of  the  institutions  and  art  of 
their  native  land.  And  the  parents  need  to  be  shown  that  they  will  earn 
the  respect  of  their  children  by  learning  English  and  becoming  Ameri- 
canized. 


9.  REPORT  OF  MRS.  FRANCES  A.  PATTEN. 

Mission  Road  School,  Los  Angeles. 

This  is  a  Camp  School  for  mothers,  the  children  attending  a  grade 
school  not  far  distant.  The  camp  has  about  25  families,  shifting  accord- 
ing to  employment.  The  total  enrollment  during  the  year  ending 
March,  1918,  was  64,  with  an  ordinary  attendance  of  18  to  20. 

Americanism  has  been  kept  as  a  pivotal  thought,  and  everything  is 
said  and  done  in  the  American  way. 

Several  branches  of  domestic  art  have  been  touched,  but  the  quilt 
has  received  most  attention,  as  quilting  can  be  used  to  answer  many 
purposes.  As  a  drawing  card  it  rivals  the  most  interesting  continued 
story.  It  is  a  valuable  aid  to  number  work,  and  for  conversational 
English  it  opens  a  wide  field. 

Mrs.  Patten  has  been  very  successful  in  interesting  the  women,  in 
these  days  of  costly  materials,  in  utilizing  quite  small  scraps  sent  in  by 
friends  of  the  school.  They  are  fitted  on  a  paper  pattern,  like  a 
"crazy  quilt,"  or  the  kid  in  an  aviator's  jacket,  and  then  stitched  down. 
The  usefulness,  and  even  beauty,  of  the  things  thus  almost  created  out 
of  nothing,  is  surprising,  and  the  lesson  in  thrift  and  ingenuity  invalu- 
able. To  do  away  with  any  appearance  of  favoritism  in  the  attractive- 
ness of  these  pieces,  Mrs.  Patten  makes  up  at  home  packages  containing 
material  for  a  sewing  bag,  a  small  frock  or  petticoat,  or  a  boudoir  cap — 
a  favorite  article  of  apparel — with  a  pattern,  all  securely  wrapped  from 
sight 


38  A  MANUAL  FOR  HOME  TEACHERS. 

Mrs.  Patten  has  also  shown  the  women  how  to  use  their  own  shreds 
and  rags  by  sewing  into  strips  and  braiding  to  make  rugs.  These  were 
greatly  treasured  and  have  a  distinct  value  in  raising  the  home  standard, 
and  cultivating  the  home-making  instinct. 

Because  of  the  frequent  changes  in  the  camp,  the  teaching  of  English 
has  not  been  broad,  the  purpose  being  to  concentrate  on  a  few  words 
for  each  period,  and  have  those  well  learned,  giving  each  woman  before 
she  leaves  the  camp  a  chance  to  get  something  definite.  The  motto  of 
the  school  is — in  Spanish — "We  do  a  little,  but  we  do  it  well."  Names 
of  goods  were  taught  .from  posters  of  the  Food  Administration.  Short 
stories,  using  familiar  words,  and  suitable  for  the  mothers  to  tell  their 
children,  were  taught  them. 

The  most  notably  successful  feature  was  the  songs  contrived  by  Mrs. 
Patten.  They  were  simple  rhymes  made  from  the  English  words  the 
women  knew,  and  set  to  standard  American  melodies,  and  intended  to  be 
sung  by  the  mothers  to  their  children,  or  as  lullabys.  The  design  in 
view  in  the  rhymes  was  always  to  connect  mother,  child,  home  and 
country.  And  the  aim  has  been  to  have  each  Camp  mother  as  she  moves 
on  carry  with  her  at  least  one  of  these  songs,  with  its  national  air, 
English  words,  and  American  sentiment. 

A  few  of  these  songs  are  appended,  as  a  suggestion  to  other  Home 
Teachers,  who  can  enlarge  the  list. 

SONG  1 — Sunshine  and  Air.     (7  words.) 

Tune,  "My  Bonnie  Lies  Over  the  Ocean." 
Open  the  window  for  sunshine, 

Open  the  window  for  air, 
Open  the  window  for  sunshine, 

Open  for  sunshine  and  air. 

Open,  open, 

Open  for  sunshine  and  air, 
Open,  open, 

Open  for  sunshine  and  air. 

SONG  2 — Keep  the  Baby  Sweet.     (13  words.) 

Tune,  "Juanita." 
Wash  the  little  face, 

Wash  the  hands,  the  little  fed, 
Wash  the  little  dresses, 

Keep  the  baby  sweet. 
Keep  the  baby  clean, 

Keep  the  baby  clean  and  neat, 
Keep  the  baby  clean, 

Keep  the  baby  sweet. 

Baby,  sweet  baby, 

So  clean,  so  neat,  so  sweet, 
Baby,  sweet  baby, 

Clean,  neat  and  sweet. 


COMMISSION  OF  IMMIGRATION  AND  HOUSING.  39 

SONG  3 — Sleep,  Baby,  Sleep.     (25  words.) 

Tune,    "Old   Folks  at  Home." 
Good  night,  good  night,  my  little  baby, 

Sleep,  sleep  for  me, 
Good  night,  good  night,  my  little  baby, 

The  sun  is  gone,  you  see. 

Papa  is  here,  and  Mama  is  near, 

So  do  not  fear. 
O    baby,   baby,   sweet,   sweet   baby, 

Sleep,  sleep,  my  baby  dear. 

SONG  4— Work.     (27  words.) 

Tune,  "Tramp,  Tramp,  Tramp,  the  Boys  Are  Marching." 
We  are  working  every  day, 
So  our  boys  and  girls  can  play. 

We  are  working  for  our  homes  and  country,  too  ; 
We  like  to  wash,  to  sew,  to  cook, 
We  like  to  write,  or  read  a  book, 

We  are  working,  working,  working  every  day. 

Work,  work,  work, 
We're  always  working, 

Working  for  our  boys  and  girls, 
Working  for  our  boys  and  girls, 
For  our  homes  and  country  too — 

We  are  working,  working,  working  every  day. 

SONG  5 — Come,  Come  to  School.     (33  words.) 

Tune,  "Come  Back  to  Erin." 
Come,  come  to  day  school, 

Or  come,  come  at  night, 
Come,  learn  to  read 

And  come,  learn  to  write. 
Come,  learn  to  cook, 

And  come,  learn  to  sew — 
Come,  learn  the  things 

That  all  mothers  should  know. 

Little  by  little 

You  learn  every  day, 
Little  by  little 

And  try,  try  again. 
Remember  the  proverb 

We  use  in  this  school  is — 
"Hago  poco,  j/ero 

Lo  hago  bien." 


40  A  MANUAL  FOB  HOME  TEACHERS. 

10.  NOTES  FROM  VARIOUS  REPORTS  OF  HOME  TEACHERS. 

"We  have  taken  part  in  several  community  entertainments.  I  spent 
part  of  one  day  helping  the  man  in  charge  of  our  War  Savings  Society 
to  prepare  a  program." 

"A  lady  from  another  War  Savings  Society  asked  our  Glee  Club  to 
sing  for  them  on  their  program.  The  girls  made  the  posters." 

"The  Red  Cross  gave  a  dancing  party,  with  about  150  out." 

"The  Mothers'  Class  has  had  an  enrollment  during  the  year  of  72, 
attending  with  varying  regularity.  One  meeting  was  particularly 
interesting.  One  of  the  women  had  had  success  in  canning  without 
sugar,  and  brought  a  jar  to  show.  One  had  made  cookies  from  a  Hoover 
recipe,  and  passed  them  around  to  be  sampled.  Another  makes  her 
own  vinegar,  and  told  how  it  was  done.  Best  of  all  was  a  pattern  for 
making  over  stockings  for  children,  brought  by  a  Spanish  woman — 
every  one  present  cut  a  pattern  to  take  home." 

"The  class  has  adopted  a  motherless  family  of  children.  They  have 
made  over  many  garments  for  them,  but  wanted  the  little  ones  to  have 
a  few  new  things,  so  bought  some  new  goods.  One  mother  has  just 
brought  me  a  nice  gingham  dress  she  has  finished  for  the  little  girl. ' ' 

"I  found  employment  for  a  widow  with  two  children,  and  later  she 
was  very  proud  to  tell  me  she  had  found  the  Employment  Bureau  her- 
self, and  had  been  given  work." 

"Our  cooking  class  has  been  turned  into  a  conservation  class,  teaching 
the  use  of  new  foods  like  peanut  butter,  and  of  wheat  substitutes."* 

"Some  of  our  women  within  walking  distance  of  a  park  had  no  idea 
of  its  existence." 

"We  found  our  mothers  so  foreign  in  dress  and  speech  that  the 
children  were  ashamed  to  have  their  mothers  come  to  the  schoolhouse. 
To  overcome  this  a  series  of  parties  was  given  for  the  mothers,  with  the 
influence  of  the  school  all  thrown  in  their  favor.  An  unexpected  result 
was  that  the  mothers  enjoyed  visiting  their  children's  class  rooms  more 
than  their  own  parties.  When  given  readers,  they  eagerly  followed  the 
lessons  with  their  lips." 

' '  One  of  the  most  Americanizing  influences  that  could  be  brought  into 
the  lives  of  these  women  would  be  American  laundry  facilities.  Their 
washing  is  done  in  the  most  primitive  and  unsanitary  way,  with  great 
waste  of  time,  fuel,  and  human  strength  and  health." 

' '  We  have  a  sewing  class  for  Mexican  mothers,  who  come  to  the  school 
bungalow  and  mend,  or  make  over  old  garments  into  new  ones  or  piece 

*The  Pasadena  Food  Conservation  Center  gives  one  day  a  week  to  food  problems  of 
the  foreign  population.  The  substitution  of  corn  for  wheat  In  the  Mexican  tortilla — 
their  staff  of  life — seemed  at  first  an  Impossibility.  There  is  now,  however,  a  corn 
preparation  on  the  market  under  the  name  of  "Maizarina,"  of  which  tortillas  can  be 
made,  and  when  It  is  demonstrated  to  the  Mexican  women,  they  are  willing  to  accept 
it  The  Food  Center  is  also  teaching  more  use  of  vegetables,  cereals  and  milk. 


COMMISSION  OF  IMMIGRATION  AND   HOUSING.  41 

quilts.  At  our  first  meeting  we  had  three  women,  at  the  last  twenty- 
five.  We  have  music  on  a  Victrola,  but  no  refreshments.  American 
mothers  come  to  help,  and  we  have  a  little  money  from  the  P.  T.  A.  for 
incidentals. ' ' 

"One  woman  said:  'It  was  worth  a  thousand  dollars  to  me  when  I 
signed  my  name  for  a  mail  package  which  came  to  me  from  New  York'." 


11.  EXCERPT  FROM  PAPER  "THE  NEIGHBORHOOD 

SCHOOL."* 

By  a  Committee  of  Teachers  of  Neighborhood  Schools. 

A  Neighborhood  School  is  one  which  attempts  to  meet  all  the  actual 
educational  needs  of  its  district.  There  are  at  present  in  Los  Angeles 
fourteen  recognized  neighborhood  schools,  all  of  them  situated  in  the 
foreign  quarters.  Here  the  people  are,  on  the  whole,  limited  both  as  to 
means  and  space,  although  they  are  in  the  main  self-supporting.  The 
streets  which  were  formerly  very  dirty  and  badly  paved,  now  show 
marked  improvement,  through  the  work  of  the  schools,  co-operating  with 
other  civic  and  social  agencies. 

None  of  these  districts  has  adequate  provisions  for  the  social  life  of 
the  people — few  have  provision  of  any  nature.  In  the  hundreds  of 
homes  represented  in  these  schools,  English  is  seldom  spoken,  and  Amer- 
ican standards  are  little  understood. 

Formerly,  partly  because  many  of  the  mothers  worked  during  the 
day  and  partly  because  of  the  ignorance  of  some  of  them,  the  children 
were  thrown  almost  entirely  upon  agencies  outside  the  home  for  direc- 
tion, diversion,  medical  attention,  first  aid,  supervision  of  cleanliness 
and  apparel,  moral  training,  and  even  for  food  itself.  More  recently 
the  schools  have  been  successful  in  returning  to  the  homes  many  duties 
which  ought  naturally  to  have  been  assumed  there,  and  are  strengthen- 
ing the  hold  of  the  home  upon  both  children  and  adults.  There  can  be 
no  stability  in  a  government  which  is  not  supported  by  strong  homes. 

It  is,  however,  impossible  properly  to  instruct  children  who  are  cold, 
hungry  and  dirty,  and  who  eighteen  hours  out  of  twenty-four  are  sub- 
jiM-ted  to  influences  which  neutralize  the  best  efforts  of  the  school.  An 
improvement  in  the  physical  condition  of  these  children  and  their 
environment  must  therefore  be  the  foundation  for  all  other  work. 

Many  of  the  homes  are  so  overcrowded  and  so  lacking  in  bathing 
facilities  that  the  children  can  not  keep  clean,  and  have  little  chance 
of  learning  the  necessity  and  pleasure  of  cleanliness  anywhere  but  in 

*What  is  known  as  the  "Neighborhood  School"  is  manifestly  the  best  type  of  school 
for  the  Home  Teacher  to  work  out  of,  since  their  aims  are  identical — to  respond,  in 
different  ways,  to  the  needs  of  the  families  of  its  locality. 


42  A   MANUAL  FOR  HOME  TEACHERS. 

the  school.  Ten  of  the  schools  have  bathrooms,  and  three  of  them  are 
able  to  admit  the  grown  people  to  their  privileges. 

Day  nurseries  have  been  made  necessary  by  the  fact  that  where  the 
mother  works,  the  babies  must  be  cared  for  by  the  older  children,  and 
the  work  of  the  classes  is  seriously  interfered  with.  The  nursery  cares 
for  them  while  the  older  children  are  in  school,  and  the  mothers  either 
at  work  or  in  the  Mothers'  Classes  of  the  Home  Teachers.  Because  of 
the  improved  condition  of  the  babies,  the  nurseries  are  object  lessons  to 
the  mothers  on  the  wholesome  effect  of  suitable  care. 

Work  for  mothers  is  done  in  connection  with  many  of  these  schools, 
on  civics,  food  conservation  and  war  activities,  as  well  as  English  and 
the  immediate  interests  of  the  home.  All  the  Principals  agree  that  the 
work  of  the  Home  Teacher — the  agency  which  brings  the  school  into 
touch  with  the  family  life — has  had  a  marked  effect  on  the  standard 
of  the  homes,  and  the  employment  of  more  of  them  will  be  recommended. 


12.  NOTES  FROM  MRS.  WEYMAN. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Ventura  County  Federation  of  Clubs,  Mrs.  C.  M. 
Weyman,  Superintendent  of  the  California  School  for  Girls,  followed 
an  address  on  the  Home  Teacher  by  one  of  the  Commissioners.  After 
speaking  of  general  educational  interests,  she  took  up  the  preceding 
paper,  and  showed  the  social  value  of  such  work,  emphasizing  its  larger 
and  broader  possibilities.  She  recognized  the  necessity  of  rehabilitation 
work,  like  her  own,  but  felt  strongly  that  it  begins  at  the  wrong  end — 
that  it  should  be  prevented  by  home  training.  She  showed  cases  such 
as  might  naturally  be  covered  by  a  Home  Teacher.  These  cases,  some 
founded  on  fact,  are  noted  below. 

The  Home  Teacher  would  gradually  help  to  accomplish  in  a  confi- 
dential and  quiet  way  many  of  the  objects  of  our  Mothers'  Clubs,  which 
would  in  social  development  be  a  long  step  beyond  the  Juvenile  Court, 
as  shown  in  the  following  illustrations : 

1.  In  studying  her  neighborhood,  a  Home  Teacher  finds  that  a  group 
of  boys  is  in  the  habit  of  idling  and  smoking  at  a  certain  corner. 
A  quiet  conference  with  individual  fathers  and  then  with  a  group  of 
fathers,  leads  to  the  fitting  up  of  a  small  boys'  clubhouse  in  the  back 
yard  of  one  of  them,  in  which  all  of  these  fathers  take  a  keen  interest. 

2.  A  Home  Teacher  finds  a  home  where  the  children  are  being  brought 
up  on  the  street,  by  reason  of  the  unhappiness  of  the  father  and  mother, 
due  to  the  father's  bad  luck  and  reduced  earnings.     By  effort,  the 
Teacher  secures  for  the  father  a  better  position,  bringing  harmony  into 


COMMISSION  OF  IMMIGRATION  AND  HOUSING.  43 

the  life  of  the  parents,  and  bringing  the  children  back  into  the  home 
from  the  street. 

3.  A  Home  Teacher  finds  a  young  girl  growing  careless  and  wayward. 
She  counsels  privately  with  the  parents,  finding  that  they  are  incapable 
of  teaching  the  mystery  and  sacredness  of  sex  to  their  daughter,  and 
have  neither  church  connection,   nor  a  wise  family  physician.     The 
Teacher  therefore  talks  with  the  girl,  though  well  realizing  it  is  a  late 
day  to  begin,  and  induces  the  family  to  move  to  an  entirely  different 
part  of  the  city,  where  it  will  be  easier  to  break  from  her  associates 
and  incipient  habits. 

4.  A  Home  Teacher  finds  dance  halls  working  for  evil  among  a  group 
of  young  people  in  her  district.     Encouraging  the  negative  reform  of 
shutting  such  places  down  where  improperly  conducted,  she  does  not 
stop  at  that,  but  does  constructive  work.     She  brings  together  a  number 
of  the  parents  involved.     Weekly  parties  in  the  several  homes  repre- 
sented are  started,  where  old  and  young  see  more  of  one  another. 
Bringing  amusement  back  into  homes  from  all  sorts  of  places  outside  the 
homes,  is  an  elemental  activity  of  the  Home  Teacher  who  believes  that 
the  home  is  the  place  to  grow  ideals,  and  that  ideals  make  character. 

5.  Arrests  of  school  children  in  the  district  would  after  a  time  be 
referred  as  a  matter  of  course  to  the  Home  Teacher,  and  wherever  at  all 
possible  would  be  quietly  and  confidentially  adjusted,  either  at  the 
office  of  the  Teacher  in  the  school  building,  or  at  the  child's  own  home, 
without  the  ignominy  of  a  Juvenile  Court  record,  or  probation  office 
treatment.     The  police  would  be  urged  not  to  wait  for  serious  breaches 
of  the  law,  but  to  report  beginnings  of  lawlessness,  and  the  Home 
Teacher,  like  a  well  qualified  probation  officer,  would  act  always  in  a 
spirit  of  friendliness  to  the  child  and  to  the  family,  rather  than  in  a 
spirit  of  prosecution  and  punishment. 

6.  Wherever  practicable,  when  church  relations  are  found  to  exist  in 
a  latent  state,  tb.e  Home  Teacher,  without  regard  to  her  own  sectarian 
preferences,  encourages,  both  in  the  family  and  in  the  local  church  head, 
the  restoration  of  church  habits  in  the  home.     This  must  be  done  grad- 
ually, and  without  forcing  or  intrusion. 

7.  The  development  of  the  playground  system,  and  of  the  larger 
neighborhood  use  of  the  public  schools,  may  also  be  greatly  accelerated 
by  the  Home  Teachers.     They  will,  perhaps,  become  the  directors  of  the 
civic  center  activities  of  the  average  public  school.     They  will,  of  course, 
in  that  case  be  obliged  to  reside  near  the  school,  and  become  part  of  the 
neighborhood  life. 

8.  Child  labor,  and  other  child  protective  legislation,  will  be  largely 
fortified  with  facts,  and  largely  guided  as  to  what  is  needed,  and  what 
is  and  what  is  not  practical,  by  the  experience  of  the  Home  Teacher. 


44  A   MANUAL  FOB  HOME  TEACHERS. 

13.  SUGGESTIVE  PROGRAMS  FOR  SPECIAL  OCCASIONS. 

These  have  been  used  in  Mothers'  Classes,  and  in  foreign  schools  and 
neighborhoods. 

In  one  Mothers'  Class,  the  purpose  has  been  to  parallel  every  holiday 
observance  in  the  school,  that  the  mothers  may  understand  the  children's 
talk  regarding  them,  as  well  as  enjoy  them  and  absorb  their  Americaniz- 
ing influence. 

Thanksgiving.  Explain  in  simplest  manner  that  every  year  we 
gather  our  children  and  friends  at  a  feast,  and  thank  God  for  all  we 
have;  that  those  who  can,  have  turkey  at  their  feast.  One  Mexican 
family  had  some  turkey  from  some  source,  and  was  very  proud  of  the 
fact.  Apples  were  given  the  women  to  take  home. 

Christmas.  Songs  were  learned  beforehand.  A  little  feast  was  pro- 
vided, with  a  tiny  spangled  tree  on  the  table,  which  was  gay  with 
ta males  wrapped  in  colored  paper  and  filled  with  sweets. 

Lincoln  Day.  "What  great  man  have  you  had  in  Mexico,  whom  you 
love  and  honor  even  though  he  has  been  long  dead?"  "We  in  America 
do  the  same — this  is  one  of  our  greatest  men. ' '  Teacher  shows  Lincoln 's 
picture,  which  remains  on  the  wall.* 

Flag  Day,  with  a  little  flag  for  each  woman 's  hair,  and  Mothers '  Day, 
with  carnations,  and  even  Valentine  Day,  explained  as  being  for  the 
young  folks — all  are  observed.  Easter  Monday  the  women  made  a 
little  garden  on  the  table,  each  concealing  a  nest  for  eggs.  And  May 
Day  meant  a  picnic  in  the  park — an  unheard  of  excursion,  which  it 
took  real  courage  for  these  shut-in  mothers  to  undertake. 

The  Mexican  holidays  are  also  noticed,  with  an  American  adaptation. 

In  a  school  which  has  been  accepted  as  the  social  center  of  the  neigh- 
borhood, all  the  patriotic  efforts  gather  under  its  roof.  It  is  open  every 
day  for  Red  Cross  sewing,  done  chiefly  by  Mexican  women,  and  there 
is  a  regular  Auxiliary  of  the  Italian  Red  Cross.  A  group  of  young 
foreign  women  is  sewing  at  night  for  the  Belgian  children.  One  Sun- 
day the  school  house  was  open  to  the  Syrians  for  a  rally,  where  they 
sold  Liberty  Bonds. 

One  evening  a  gathering  honored  the  foreign  mothers  of  sons  in 
service.  Another  there  was  a  Thrift  Stamp  parade,  where  the  repre- 
sentatives of  all  departments  of  war  work  marched  through  the  streets, 
returning  to  the  schoolhouse,  where  stamps  were  sold  amid  great  enthu- 
siasm. A  grand  Bazaar  of  Nations  was  given  one  evening,  with  the 
grounds  canvassed  in  (a  gift  from  the  Principal),  decorated  and  illumi- 
nated, with  music  for  dancing.  Each  nationality — Syrian,  Mexican, 
Chinese,  etc. — had  a  booth  for  refreshments,  the  receipts  going  to  the 
Red  Cross.  The  Syrian  coffee  houses  in  the  vicinity  closed  their  doors 
for  the  evening  that  the  receipts  might  be  the  larger. 


•There  are  three  lesssons  on  Lincoln  in  the  "Primer  for  Foreign-speaking  Women," 
copies  of  which  may  be  had  free  on  application  to  the  Commission  of  Immigration  and 
Housing. 


COMMISSION  OF  IMMIGRATION   AND   HOUSING.  45 

Another  Red  Cross  benefit  was  given  by  the  Mexicans — an  Aztec 
play,  written,  costumed  and  acted  entirely  by  themselves,  and  his- 
torically and  traditionally  correct.  It  was  a  dignified  performance, 
with  an  audience  of  several  hundred. 

It  is  in  occasions  such  as  these  that  the  Home  Teacher  leads  her 
mothers  to  have  a  part. 

One  Home  Teacher  varies  her  work  by  an  afternoon  of  simple  games — 
like  Musical  Chairs  or  Donkey  Tails — which  the  women  enjoy  like 
children.  Or  on  a  Friday  afternoon  each  teacher  in  the  building  will 
furnish  one  number  for  their  entertainment — a  pretty  or  amusing 
exercise  or  motion  song  which  has  been  already  used  in  her  own  room. 
This  causes  very  little  trouble  to  any  one,  and  the  mothers  enjoy  it  very 
much. 

On  a  May  Day  there  was  a  procession  with  flower  decorated  baby 
buggies,  and  on  one  occasion  a  patriotic  parade.  The  Red  Cross,  the 
Red  Star,  the  gardeners,  the  salvage  and  ambulance  departments,  were 
all  duly  represented,  marched  through  the  whole  region,  and  stopped  at 
each  block  to  sing  patriotic  songs. 

This  school  joined  with  two  others  to  welcome  the  delegation  of 
teachers  sent  to  this  country  by  the  Japanese  Government.  There  were 
speeches  by  the  dignitaries,  and  songs  by  the  children,  a  dumb-bell 
drill,  dances  by  the  kindergarten  babies,  and  the  crowning  feature 
was  a  play,  "The  First  Thanksgiving,"  with  John  Alden  and  Priscilla 
complete,  enacted  by  Mexican  and  Japanese  children.  Surely,  Ameri- 
canization in  some  localities  is  proceeding  swiftly ! 

COMMUNITY  CARNIVAL. 

Pageant  of  the  Children  of  Columbia. 

Tickets  5  Cents. 


Overture — Patriotic  Airs — School  Orchestra. 
TABLEAU — Columbia  Receives  the  Gifts  of  Her  Children. 

1.  Indian  Song. 
Aztec  Dance. 

2.  Russian  Folk  Songs  and  Dance. 

3.  Swedish  Weaving  Dance. 
Scotch  Highland  Fling. 
English  Ribbon  Dance. 

4.  Irish  Jig. 

French  Vineyard  Dance. 

5.  Syrian  Folk  Dance. 

6.  Italian  Tarentella. 
Italian  National  Hymn. 

7.  Symbolic  Japanese  Dance. 

Frolic  Games — Japanese  Kindergarten. 
S.  Spanish  Songs. 
9.  Interpretive  Dance — "Spirit  of  Youth  in  America." 

10.  Minstrelsy  of  the  South. 

11.  "Out  West"— Glee  Club. 

12.  "Star-Spangled  Banner." 


46  A  MANUAL  FOR  HOME  TEACHERS. 


THE  IMPORTANCE   OF  LEARNING  ENGLISH. 

[Spoken  and  interpreted  to  a  little  social  gathering  of  Italian  women,  by  Mrs.  Chase.] 
I  have  been  asked  to  speak  to  yon  about  the  importance  of  learning  English. 
1 1  is  indeed  very  important.  For  you,  English  is  a  key.  You  have  in  Italy  a 
wonderful  civilization — you  have  books  and  plays  and  pictures.  Now  that  you  are 
here  you  want  to  know  our  civilization  in  addition  to  your  own.  You  want  to 
understand  our  books,  our  plays,  our  pictures,  our  government,  all  our  institutions. 
You  can  not  do  this  without  knowing  English. 

In  the  second  place,  English  is  another  kind  of  a  key  for  you.  It  is  a  key  to 
American  friendship.  People  can  not  be  friends  unless  they  know  one  another. 
They  can  not  know  one  another  unless  they  speak  the  same  language.  If  we 
Americans  had  gone  to  live  in  Italy,  you  would  have  the  right  to  say  that  unless 
\ve  learned  Italian  we  would  always  be  strangers  to  you. 

Now  it  is  you  who  have  come  to  live  in  our  country.  So  it  is  for  you  to  learii 
English,  in  order  that  we  may  know  you  and  appreciate  you  and  like  you.  You 
have  come  to  our  house  to  be  part  of  our  family — so  you  should  learn  the  language 
of  our  house,  which  is  English. 


14.  LIST  OF  SOCIAL  AGENCIES  WHICH  MAY  BE  CONSULTED  BY 
THE  HOME  TEACHER. 

1.  City  Nurse. 

2.  School  Nurse. 

3.  Charities  Visitor. 

4.  Housing  Inspector. 

5.  Probation  Officer. 

6.  Schools,  Public  and  Private. 

7.  Attendance  Officer. 

8.  Day  Nurseries. 

9.  Playgrounds. 

10.  Settlements. 

11.  Missions. 

12.  Priests  and  Clergymen. 

13.  Employers,  in  Camps  and  Factories. 

14.  Libraries. 

15.  Editors. 

16.  Consuls. 

17.  Commission  of  Immigration  and  Housing. 


COMMISSION  OF  IMMIGRATION  AND  HOUSING.  47 


THE  HOME  TEACHER  ACT. 
CHAPTER  37. 

[Statutes  of  California,  1915.] 

Section  1.  A  new  section  is  hereby  added  to  the  Political  Code,  to 
be  numbered  section  sixteen  hundred  seventeen  b,  and  to  read  as 
follows : 

1617b.  Boards  of  school  trustees  or  city  boards  of  education  of  any 
school  district,  may  employ  teachers  to  be  known  as  "home  teachers," 
not  exceeding  one  such  home  teacher  for  every  five  hundred  units  of 
average  daily  attendance  in  the  common  schools  of  said  district  as 
shown  by  the  report  of  the  county  superintendent  of  schools  for  the 
next  preceding  school  year.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  home  teachers 
to  work  in  the  homes  of  the  pupils,  instructing  children  and  adults  in 
matters  relating  to  school  attendance  and  preparation  therefor;  also 
in  sanitation,  in  the  English  language,  in  household  duties  such  as 
purchase,  preparation  and  use  of  food  and  of  clothing  and  in  the 
fundamental  principles  of  the  American  system  of  government  and 
the  rights  and  duties  of  citizenship.  The  qualifications  of  such 
teachers  shall  be  a  regular  kindergarten  primary,  elementary  or  sec- 
ondary certificate  to  teach  in  the  schools  of  California  and  special 
fitness  to  perform  the  duties  of  a  home  teacher;  provided,  that  the 
salaries  of  such  teachers  shall  be  paid  from  the  city  or  district  special 
school  funds. 


11-18 


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University  of  California 

.«!(?}JTHERN  REG|ONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 
405  Hilgard  Avenue,  Los  Angeles,  CA  90024-1388 
Return  this  material  to  the  library 
from  which  it  was  borrowed. 


MAR  0  4  1998 

SRLF 
2  WEEK  LOA 


